Consumption
by Saki0112
Summary: Two DWMA graduates return to Death City upon the awakening of the Kishin. Already infected with Madness, they play a key role in either destroying or spreading the madness. Cali, the human daughter of a witch; and Hiro, the oldest remaining Star Clan member, keep their only friend Justin away at arms length as they try to maneuver between morals and desires. Slight romance.
1. Chapter 1: Consumption

All canon characters © Okubo Atsushi

* * *

 **Consumption**

 **Chapter 1**

 _ **Consumption**_

Loud music blared through small black and red earpieces as two people, a male and a female, walked up the long line of steps up to the world famous Demon Weapon Meister Academy, also known as Shibusen or DWMA. The male sporting a black cap which covered his mess of white hair, with the word "DEATH" embroidered on the front, popped the gum in his mouth as he fanned himself by moving his black hoodie collar away from himself. The hoodie had the word INSANE in white sketchy letters on the front, going diagonally. His jeans were also black, along with his converse. The female, was not much different in clothes, though didn't show any signs of being bothered by the Nevada desert heat. She however, didn't wear a cap, but drowned out the world with her music as her black hoodie had the words MAD-HATTAN in bold across her chest. Her hood was up, protecting her head from the laughing sun's rays, as well as hiding her reddish brown hair from lightening further from the sun.

"Should have dressed more appropriately for this weather." the male sighed as he took a large gulp of water before handing it to his partner who took a small sip before continuing on.

"Hiro, don't fall behind" she ignored the chuckle the male gave, more because she couldn't hear it, as she entered the building, leaving her partner to face the hot desert sun. Once inside she took off the hood and pulled her hair into a messy bun and waited for Hiro to slowly crawl his way in, she knew he wasn't too good with the heat, after all, he originally came from Japan, northern Hokkaido.

"Cali, can't you wait for me?" he asked opening the door before remembering that she probably couldn't hear due to her head phones and music. He started to regret giving her those noise-canceling devices. With an inaudible sigh, he walked over and pulled her ear pieces out, exposing the lingering people in the hall to the words. " _Dance, fucker, dance, man he never had a chance-_ " from the song _You're Gonna Go Far, Kid_ by The Offspring. He nodded apologetically at those who were passing by.

Cali looked up at her partner and turned the music down. "We have to report to Lord Death" she said quietly before turning to head to the Death Room, ignoring all the stares she gained. Hiro sighed at his partner once more and hurried after her, not wanting to lose sight of her in case she were to initiate a fight, by accident.

Upon reaching the Death Room, Hiro opened the door for Cali who nodded and walked in with a silent thank you. Hiro followed right after, looking at the guillotine blades that hung above their heads. It seemed that even a slight tremor would set them off, crashing to the floor, but he knew better than that, after all, it wasn't their first time being in the Death Room.

Cali noted that nothing had changed much about the room since she had graduated and walked up to the mirror. Rather than saying the words, she hummed it as she wrote down, on the fogged up mirror "42-42-564." The mirror rippled as the familiar founder of the school greeted Cali, and the approaching Hiro, with his happy, high-pitched, voice.

"Yo! How are you?!" he asked.

"Very good Lord Death" Cali nodded, Hiro waved but stayed silent. It was Cali's job to speak to the Shinigami after all. He usually never spoke directly with him, the Shinigami, and he didn't think he ever intentionally would, after all, although he personally had no malicious intentions against the one who had ordered his clan to be destroyed, his blood did. He had been infected with the madness of the Star Clan more than once before, and he had mended that madness and insanity several times, however as blood runs thicker than water, he thought that if he did speak, he would end up trying to assassinate the Shinigami.

"I see Hiro is doing good as well" the Shinigami acknowledged the Star Clan member who nodded. His blue eyes shining with joy that the Shinigami had bothered to include him, even though he couldn't speak.

"Back to business, Lord Death" Cali started "why have you called us here?" she asked. Hiro wasn't a Death Scythe like Justin and Spirit, and she wasn't a three-star Meister like Stein and Sid.

"I believe you know that the Kishin has been reborn" nodded the Shinigami. Cali and Hiro exchanged looks.

"Of course we do, we felt the madness and insanity all the way from Russia." Cali nodded. They were normally in the East Asian branch, but sometimes, when the Russian branch was low on staff, they would occasionally call on Cali and Hiro. They had graduated as one of the youngest pairs at the age of 14 for Cali and 15 for Hiro. Though because of some special circumstances, the two were exempted from all regular classes and worked one-on-one with Spirit and Stein for a while before being released into the field.

"Since you two are almost immune to the Insanity"

Cali cut in "we aren't immune" she shook her head "we are insane, Mad" she added "you can't give a cold to someone who already has a cold. This Madness doesn't affect us because we've already accepted the insanity."

"Well..." Death paused accepting the answer, as it was true, before continuing "as you know, I have called the Death Scythes here too, and since you're already...insane, I would like you to keep an eye out on the students here...especially Stein's kids"

Cali pulled a thinking face, her eyes narrowing and a light frown positioned on her lips. "You think Stein is going to emit Madness waves?" she asked.

"I already have arranged for Marie to stay with him, however, you two would know how to spot madness much easier than others" Death nodded.

"Fine, do you want us to enroll under Stein's class or something?" she asked "since we technically graduated three years ago"

"Student teachers, actually." Cali and Hiro nodded at this suggestion.

"Ok, we'll go there now" Cali nodded.

"It's Class Crescent Moon" the Shinigami explained. Both Cali and Hiro knew that class, they had passed by it almost every day during their school years.

"Thank you Lord Death" Cali bowed.

"Go _Die_ you piece of useless tarp. Go burn your face in hell's fire, bastard" Hiro smiled as he said this then slapped his hands over his mouth.

"He means, thank you and have a nice day" Cali looked at Hiro who nodded. At this the Shinigami laughed before closing off all communications.

"Thanks Cali" Hiro looked at his shorter partner, but found him ignored due to the head phones that she had put on again. He sighed, wondering when she had re-inserted the ear buds.

"We're going to be late, Hiro" Cali called back as she made her way down the halls. As she looked up at the guillotines, she imagined them falling and crashing down to the floor, trying to cut her in half and smirked. Sometimes, being mad, made life a bit more…amusing. Though she would never admit it, other than to Hiro since she knew that he saw it too, she sometimes saw Lord Death as the Kishin, three horizontal eyes on his mask glowing red.

Yes, life surely was much more amusing when insane.

Stein looked around at his students. Eyes occasionally landing on the seven in the second row. Maka, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Kid, Patty and Liz. He could feel the madness starting to swarm inside when he remembered back to that night, when he had let himself loose for a while, and wondered himself, why he was still teaching. He then remembered, it was because he was a teacher, and as a teacher, was supposed to teach unless sick. He started to ask himself if Madness was an illness, but shook the thought away as then, it would be a chronic illness, never leaving his system. His curiosity made him mad, and unless he got rid of the curiosity, which was impossible to remove, he would never be 'sane'.

"Class. We're having a-" before he could continue the door to the classroom opened with a light bang, causing everyone's attention to turn to the two in the door way.

"Class Crescent Moon" Cali looked around. Her earphones blasted music for everyone in the room to hear.

 _I created the Sound of Madness._ _  
_ _Wrote the book on pain._ _  
_ _Somehow I'm still here,_ _  
_ _To explain,_ _  
_ _That the darkest hour never comes in the night._

It was the song, _Sound of Madness_ by Shinedown.

"Yo Franken" Hiro raised a hand and saluted to the gray haired man sitting, with a terrible posture, on his office chair. His eyes couldn't be seen though the glare of his glasses, however, both could feel the glare he was giving them as he started to turn the large screw in his head.

Cali turned the music off and looked at the mad professor coolly. "Stop screwing your head and introduce us to the class as Student teachers" she narrowed her eyes in annoyance. At this, Stein stopped turning the screw and stood up, his cigarette hanging loosely in his mouth. Slowly, his blank face turned up into a grin for Cali hadn't changed since graduating, making him want to dissect her to see how she could live with the Insanity.

"Cool" Soul muttered at how well the new comers were dealing with Stein's behavior.

"Class, we're having student teachers. Greet Cali, and Hiro." Stein's bored voice rang through the lecture hall like class as several students nodded and greeted the two with mumbles.

"I'm Hiro" Hiro took off his hat and bowed "this is Cali" he pulled her before him and grabbed her shoulders. "She is my Meister" he explained, "and we both are actually very pleased to meet you all, and we hope that we can have a very _uneventful_ year." Hiro looked up, his eyes locking on Black Star and his demon weapon, Tsubaki. At the look of the star tattoo on Black Star's shoulder, and remembering White Star, his soul swelled as his eyes changed, for only a second before calming down.

It seemed that Black Star had noticed the change while the other students hadn't and started to whisper to Tsubaki. "That guy, he's a part of Star Clan" Black Star started as his habit started to come out. He couldn't stand that someone was trying to take the spot light, especially since that person was from the Star Clan that was supposed to have been eradicated.

"THE MIGHTY I, CHALLENGES YOU!" Black Star shouted at the top of his lungs as he pointed down to Hiro. Beside him, Tsubaki stood up, being the kind soul she was and transformed, even though she didn't think that it was a good idea.

Stein smirked at this and decided it was a great time to try out an experiment. "Class, let us see just how strong, Cali and Hiro are" he said, and a number of agreements came from the rows. It seemed that most of the students didn't exactly trust the new comers while others were just trying to get out of school work.

"Then I propose a field trip" Hiro grinned happily though his kind look sharpened when he glared at Black Star.

"I thought this was supposed to be an _uneventful_ school year" Cali looked up at Hiro who stopped smiling. "Shall we scare a couple people?" she asked, insanity clearly showing on her face as she held out a hand for her partner to take.

"Let's show them a bit of our, madness" Hiro grinned, he was currently seeing everything in red, nothing could scare him. He felt invincible.

"Don't kill anyone" Stein wheeled by on his chair before accidentally tripping over a ledge on the main doors.

"Don't kill yourself" Cali grinned as she passed him. Once outside in the sun, both Hiro and Cali took off their sweaters. Cali wore a black t-shirt with Death's mask on the front while Hiro wore a gray wife-beater. One could easily see the number of scars that marred his chest and arms. Black Star stopped, 10 meters away, and faced them.

"I will surpass god!" Black Star declared.

At this both Cali and Hiro laughed "Kid, God fell from his throne a long time ago" Cali spoke through breaths.

"Maka, Kid" Stein made his way over to the two Meisters who could see souls. "Try to look at Hiro and Cali's souls" he smiled. The two nodded and stared intently at the two. Both had to stop themselves from gasping. Both souls were swelling, easily engulfing their bodies like other higher classed Meisters and weapons.

"What do you see?" Stein asked.

"Hiro" Maka started "it's huge for one thing, but it shows signs of having been cracked and crudely mended. The soul..." she paused "Hiro isn't a member of the Star Clan, is he?" she asked looking to Black Star in concern.

"Well done Maka" Stein nodded "he is."

"You have to stop this fight then!" Maka tried to convince Stein but it went unheard as he then asked Kid to describe Cali's soul.

"It looks..." Kid paused, unable to find the right word "tattered almost, with, black lightning?"

Stein nodded, it certainly looked like it was black lightning surrounding the soul but he knew it was actually the madness in her soul. "Good, but now, you'd better pay attention to their fighting. Good thing Black Star took the initiative to start the fight as this will actually get very interesting."

Tsubaki was in dual sickle mode. Cali grinned and poked Hiro in the side and whispered something the made him smile. The other students started to feel a bit uneasy at this and held their breath to see just what kind of weapon Hiro would turn into. Hiro had turned into a Naginata, a Japanese halberd. Cali swung the naginata before her in a wide swoop and twirled it in her fingers before pointing it at Black Star.

"Start any time you want, Kid" Cali grinned.

Black star charged at her and swung the sickle. Cali dodged by jumping but the pole of Hiro had been wrapped by the chain.

"I got ya" Black Star grinned triumphantly.

"not quite" Cali smirked as she grabbed one of the sickles and pulsed a small surge of her soul through it. The shock passed through Tsubaki and shocked Black Star, forcing him to let go of Tsubaki.

"Black Star!" Tsubaki yelled, as she tried to transform, back to her human self but was stopped by an over whelming force from Cali. She had let go of Hiro and focused herself on Tsubaki, her own soul engulfing Tsubaki's, forcing the two females to match soul wavelengths. Maka watched with her heart in her mouth as she watched Cali's soul over taking Tsubaki's.

Cali then threw one of the sickles at Black Star, the chain wrapping around his leg. Cali reeled Black Star in like a fish and threw him against the ground by using his own weight against him. She laughed when Black Star writhed on the ground, holding his head. Tossing Tsubaki on to Black Star's chest she turned around to pull Hiro out from the ground when she felt a hand on her back and then a large shock pulsing throughout her body.

"Leathal wave, Big Star" Black Star muttered as Cali flew a meter forward, spitting out blood.

"We need a doctor now!" one of the students called into the building but Stein shook his head as Cali looked at her own blood.

"Hiro, looks like we were a little too nice" she giggled as she pulled Hiro from the ground. Stein could see that currently, the two were connected by madness. "Tiger claw, would be nice" she grinned as Hiro changed. "Stein never told us to hold back now did he, just as long as I don't kill anyone?" before Stein could stop her from going any further, Soul and Maka had rushed past and stood before Black Star and Tsubaki.

"I don't need help Maka!" Black Star complained but Maka stood her ground.

Cali didn't hesitate as she charged at the two meisters, as she swung the tiger claw like an upper cut at Maka before kicking at Black Star. She was fighting without fear or worry. Maka knew then, that the pair were consumed by madness, like she had been once when fighting with Crona. Cali then grabbed the Blade of Soul and jumped over it as Hiro changed into his Naginata. Before Cali could either stop or decapitate her, a black scythe blade stopped Hiro from getting any closer.

"Sprirt" Cali narrowed her eyes.

"I think that's enough" his eyes hard.

"I wasn't going to do anything" Cali got off Soul as Hiro changed back. "If I accidentally killed someone, Lord Death would put me on the hanger" she chuckled light heartedly. "Don't worry, we're perfectly stable, it's you who isn't" Cali pointed to Spirit's chest over his heart "you're afraid of the madness." Grabbing the cross shaped neck tie she brought him down to her height "don't insult our self-control" she hissed before letting go.

"Come on class, we're going back to finish our studies" Stein clapped his hands gathering the attention of his students. They mumbled something before making their way back in to the school with Stein following after the crowd. Maka carefully made her way over to Hiro and Cali who were watching from farther away while putting on their hoodies.

"Are the two of you..." Maka paused not sure how to approach the subject.

"Un" Cali had returned to her normal self, listening to music, while speaking only when necessary.

"We've accepted and welcomed the Madness." Hiro smiled kindly "In fact, we lived with it for so long, it's just normal now, we can't function without it, the madness" the way he had said it didn't fit the words. His big smile and kind features made Maka's defenses fall.

"But, you're also Star Clan...I thought that Black Star was-"

"The last one?" Hiro asked as he stuck out his tongue to show, not a tattoo, but a burn mark of a star. "Too bad he's wrong" he chuckled before blocking a punch from Black Star that was aimed for his head. He laughed it off and pushed Black Star a couple meters back "nice try." However, that kindness disappeared when Black Star aimed at Cali.

"I allowed you to give her one clean hit that first time, as punishment for taking you guys lightly, but Shinigami or no Shinigami, Clan member or not, I'll fucking kill you if you so touch a hair on Cali's head with even a sliver of malicious intent" Hiro growled as he kicked Black Star away.

"Hiro, language" Cali tugged on Hiro's sleeve.

"Sorry"

"Spirit, tell Stein that we're going home, I need sleep" Cali said aloud as she started down the stairs.

"Umm...Sorry Spirit, I don't think we'll be coming to school tomorrow" Hiro waved before following his meister down the steps. He was sure that the Cali was tired from trying to be sane, or at the least pretending to be. When they were back in the East Asian Branch or the Russian Branch, they had been left alone, as the others knew of their Madness, and so, had no reason to try to act sane for the people around them as they weren't normally with other people. However, having suddenly been pushed into a cage full of fear ridden students and teachers, it was hard for them to act as they normally did without raising the Madness of the others around them.

"I'LL FIGHT YOU AGAIN WHEN YOU COME BACK!" Black Star yelled from the top of the stairs.

Maka turned to her father, as did Soul and Tsubaki. Kid, Patty and Liz had gone off to talk with Lord Death. "Who are they?" Maka asked the question everyone wanted answered.

Spirit looked at his daughter and contemplated telling her a lie to keep her away from the Madness but decided she would end up knowing the truth anyways. "They are Shibusen Graduates" he started and thought about how their madness usually over whelmed their opponents "and even Stein and I would have a hard time fighting against them."

They gasped at what Spririt was confessing. "Not Cool" Soul shook his head though Black Star grew angry.

"They went easy on us!" Black Star growled, grinding his teeth in anger and started to yell something across Death City about unfairness and a rematch.

Soul then remembered something "Can you tell us how Cali was able to wield Tsubaki here?" he asked remembering when Black Star couldn't hold him when they had fought Kid. He doubted that Cali was just able to somehow match with Tsubaki, especially after what happened just before.

"Well.." Spirit really didn't like that kid, he didn't want to go further on the subject with his precious Maka but now he had to. "First, you should know that the pair runs on Madness"

"Isn't that what we're aiming to get rid of?" Soul asked.

"Yes, but they've somehow accepted it and by accepting it, they got rid of all their fear" Spirit explained, he shuddered, remembering the first time Cali had held him. "Tsubaki, do you remember what it felt like when she forced the wavelength to match?" he asked.

The Japanese nodded "in the beginning, I didn't want to connect with her, but slowly, it felt like it was Black Star was holding me, and for a second, to me, it _was_ Black Star."

"That first shot she uses to rid the wielder of their weapon uses her soul. However, when she does that, she momentarily injects a bit of her soul into the weapon causing the weapon to experience Madness, but only for a certain amount of time." Spirit explained.

"But how did they end up like that?" Maka asked, she didn't think that they were always mad.

"'Hiro...I think you should ask them for that story" Spirit shook his head. Though he didn't exactly like the pair, he wasn't about to tell kids their life stories, he did care about their privacy as human beings after all. "Now go back to class and" Spirit coughed "give Papa a hug Maka!" he opened his arms only to find that they had already gone back inside, ignoring him once his explanations were done.

Cali looked around the familiar streets of the city and allowed a faint smile of nostalgia to creep up before wiping it away not a second later. Hiro walked alongside her, back to the hotel. He was already starting to miss the solitude they had back in the Russian and East Asian branches. It was nostalgic to finally come back to the place that had taken them in when they were drowning in Madness, however it also brought back a lot of pain as well.

They pair had met at the ages of four and five. Hiro was just five when the entire Star Clan had been eradicated by Shibusen. He knew that they had deserved it, and in-fact, he didn't care too much that they had killed everyone in front of his eyes. Then with the will of survival, he decided to pretend to the sane, to cast off the fact that he had been forced to fight and absorb the weapons of other children like him though soul battles, and he cried like a child, and talked about bad people who abused him.

Cali had been four, her mother had been a witch, but she had been born human. For the first two years, she had been separated from a motherly love, only the cold touch of a nurse whose job was to make sure that she wasn't dead. She knew her mother wasn't pleased with the fact that she hadn't been born a witch. Then suddenly her mother had looked after her, once she was able to walk and talk. But that love only lasted half a year before she had been locked in a pitch black room, food was delivered through a small sliding hole in the door. What she didn't know then, and knew now, was that, this witch had been trying to turn her, Cali, into the Kishin; first by increasing her madness and insanity. Of course, Shibusen had destroyed the witch before she could start feeding Cali any pure human souls.

"Azusa Yumi should be here tomorrow or the day after" Hiro thought aloud as they entered their Hotel room.

"I'm taking a shower first" Cali announced as she pulled off her hoodie and threw it on the bed and kicked off her shoes. She undid her belt and took off her jeans and walked into the Bathroom, leaving Hiro to wait for his turn for the bath. Noticing how Cali had randomly tossed her pants, hoodie and shoes on the bed and around the floor, he sighed and stood to pick the items up from the ground, folding the clothes and leaving her shoes next to the bed.

After what seemed like ten or fifteen minutes, Cali poked her head out of the bath room.

"Can you pass me my pajamas?" she asked. Hiro sat up from where he was lying on the bed and walked over to her suitcase. "Red pairs or black pairs?" he asked staring at her under garments.

"Red" she called. Hiro could hear the sound of the hair dryer going off. Opening the bath room door, he placed the clothes on the sink counter. "What is it?" she asked looking at Hiro who was staring at her through the mirror, she paused drying her hair to fix the towel around her.

"You're not going to ask me about that Star Clan kid?" he asked.

"I trust you'll tell me when you want to" she replied as she finished drying her hair and turned to him. "Or do you want me to ask you?"

"Naw, just curious" he chuckled.

"Curiosity killed the cat" Cali raised a brow.

"Nay, Insanity killed the cat"

"Same thing" she rolled her eyes and asked "so, are you going to leave so I can get changed or what?" she turned around to grab her clothes.

"I can stay if you want" he grinned as he grabbed her hips and brought her close for a hug.

"Only in your dreams" She shoved him away and out the door.

"So I have permission?" he joked from outside the door as she put on some clothes.

"What you do in your dreams don't concern me" she then pulled her hair into a pony tail.

"Even if I were to put a collar on you and a leash." She opened the door and came out with her other clothes.

"I didn't know you had that kind of a fetish" she said letting Hiro enter the bath room after handing her his hoodie, wife-beater and his pants. His shoes were already by the bed.

"I don't" he said seriously "I said in my dreams, I don't have full control of that" he grinned before entering to take a shower. Before he closed the door, Cali's eyes lingered on all the scars he had on his body. The largest one was that of a star, carved on the left side of his lower back. "And don't just throw my things on the bed!" he yelled "actually fold them"

Cali stuck her tongue out at him but folded his clothes anyway, placing them beside his hat. She then crawled into the sheets and lay in the middle of the king sized bed. Having forgotten to book a hotel, they had to get a last minute room from the nearest hotel that morning. And since it was before check-out time, they didn't have much of a choice. A single room on the second floor, with a king sized bed and the window facing a brick wall.

When Hiro came out of the shower with a towel around his waist, he found Cali already sleeping on the bed. Grabbing his own pajamas he quickly changed and crawled into bed next to his child hood friend and partner.

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 **Note:** The ratings might go up from T to M depending on what people think. Either PM or Review me if you think it should go up. 3+ people with concerns will move me to change the ratings.


	2. Chapter 2: MaDNesS

All canon characters © Okubo Atsushi

 **Consumption**

 **Chapter 2**

 _ **MaDNesS**_

"Hiro, where is my other shoe?" Cali asked as they were ready to head out to Shibusen.

"Try under the bed sheet" he sighed as he pulled on a white t-shirt with red words on the back that said "Warning: Insanity level → High." they usually wore clothes that easily marked them mad so others would know to stay away from them, especially in battle. Hiro's eyes caught a piece of blue fabric and picked it up, to find that it was the under wear that Cali had been wearing the night before.

"Found it" Cali pulled on her converse and looked at Hiro who had quickly stuffed her underwear into his pocket in surprise. "Let's go, come on" she rolled her eyes when Hiro hesitated, he had wanted to place the garment in their laundry bag when she left but it seemed that she was going to wait for him to follow.

"Y-yea" he nodded and followed her out, mentally noting to discretely put the underwear back later.

They walked down the halls to the Death Room and entered without knocking. It seemed that Justin had beat them to the Shinigami.

"Oh...God..." Justin knelt before the platform "Why do you not grace me with your words?" he asked staring at Lord Death with sorrowful eyes. He then pulled a dramatic look, bringing his hands to his chest "oh woe is me, I cannot hear the word of god"

The Shinigami who was reflected on the mirror sighed, due to his mask, Justin wasn't able to lip read what he was trying to say.

"Take out your head phones in the Death Room" Cali pulled the skull headphones from one of the priest's ears before rolling up her own music device and headphones and stuffing them in the pocket of her black and red patchwork vest.

"Oh" he then pulled the other one out and turned to the pair. "Haven't seen you two since I left" he grinned "Long time no see, Cali, Hiro"

"Yeah" Cali shook his hand.

"Good to see you too, Shinigami loving freak" Hiro nodded before thinking up something. "Right, I have something for you" he said handing him a blue cloth. Cali watched in curiosity as Justin accepted the cloth.

"Thank you, what is it?" Justin asked as he unwrapped it, untangling the string that held some of the fabric together. "um..." first Justin went white before going a deep red as he gulped loudly. In his hands he held Cali's underwear, as he held it up for everyone to see. It was at that point that Stein, Spirit, Marie and Azusa appeared at the end of the hall of guillotines. Hiro held down a laugh when Cali blushed for what seemed like the first time in years. The reactions of the others were also quite a laugh for the white haired Star Clan member.

Azusa glared at Justin and Hiro though her face was pink with a blush. Marie was looking down at the ground but her hands were in fists, shaking at her sides. Spirit's face was a cross of joy and confusion while Stein had the most boring, blank face, anyone could ever create.

"Er..." Justin gulped once more, unable to say anything while Stein cut in.

"I'm guessing those belong to Cali" he nodded to Cali who was now starting to get redder. "But, quite a bold pair, don't you think?" he asked with a sadistic grin as he nodded to the stings on the string bikini panties that were normally supposed to be used to keep the pair on the person. Cali's face matched Justin's for the shade of red.

"I never would have pegged her to be the type to wear things like that" Spirit nodded as he stared at the cloth in Justin's hands, Spirit's nose leaking a thin trickle of blood. "Good job Justin" he gave the priest a thumb up.

"Wh-a, no, I'm a man devoted to God" he then stared at Hiro "I'm never accepting anything from you again." Hiro laughed and placed an arm around Justin's shoulders.

"Just give me back my underwear" Cali growled as she reached for her article of clothing from Justin's grasp. Surprised by Cali's sudden outburst, and still embarrassed for having fallen for Hiro's prank, Justin had accidentally pierced the garment with a blade.

"Damn it Justin" Cali sighed "despite what pervert and stitches here say, I really liked that pair" she rubbed her temples, "and it's not like I can drag you underwear shopping with me so you can pay for another one, stupid priest" she muttered.

"I'm sorry ok? But I think Hiro is at fault rather than I."

Cali narrowed her eyes at the priest and sighed "yes, _Father_ " she growled and bowed mockingly before taking the garment in his hands and shoving it in her short's back pocket. Justin wanted to roll his eyes but knew it was un-priestly and instead nodded as if he didn't hear the sarcasm in her voice. He didn't know why but for some reason, Cali just got under his skin too easily.

"Well" the Shinigami coughed gaining everyone's attention as the underwear incident was forgotten with the next sentence. "As you know, the Kishin "Asura" had been revived so I thought we should take the time to discuss this." He looked at everyone, making sure that Justin hadn't put his ear phones back in. "I doubt that the insane, but cowardly, Asura will take action any time soon. I think that he will first, lay low to determine his stability and store up power."

"Then Asura isn't our main priority," Cali cut in "if he isn't going to move for the time being. You're making it sound like the Kishin might not do anything for several years"

"That is also possible" he nodded "That's why, we should first think up some counter measures against the "wavelength of insanity" the Kishin emits...Stein" the Shinigami looked to Stein, asking him to explain.

"The "wavelength of insanity", can we think of that as his soul wavelength?" asked Azusa. Taking a quick glance at Hiro and Cali before looking to Stein.

"Yes, but unlike these two, think of the wavelength at the level of a God" Stein pointed a thumb at the two teens.

"Then, does this wavelength attract or encourage something?" Marie asked. She had known both Hiro and Cali for long enough that they wouldn't hurt anyone not on Death's list.

"I guess, that's a good way of putting it. Every human, no matter who, has some level of insanity within them. Cali, Hiro and myself in particular" he nodded before exhaling some smoke. "The "Wavelength of Insanity" Asura emits, encourages the insanity that sleeps within the soul of man. It's certain that Insanity is contagious. The moment that Asura was revived I felt it..." he looked at Cali and Hiro.

"We felt it too, all the way from Russia" Cali nodded. They were more sensitive to the madness levels on earth as they were already infected.

"A-and" Azusa started, breaking the silence. "Can this phenomenon, happen to anyone?"

"No, among Clergymen with powerful faith, such as Justin here, I expect the infection rate to be relatively low" Stein motioned to Justin who smiled lightly at the praise. "Also, at this stage, it's unthinkable that the entire human population will be affected by the insanity."

"Then, what's the issue?" asked Justin looking slightly confused.

"The awakening and powering up of evil beings" Azusa said while looking directly at Stein.

"That's right but..." Stein started to look slightly pissed "making snap judgments about people based on their looks is an awful thing" he grinned "I want to cut you up into tiny pieces. Suspecting me but not the other two-" before he could finish, Hiro had kicked the Doctor in the back of the knee.

"Shut up you piece of worthless crap" Hiro laughed darkly.

"He means, please stop and continue with the explanation" Cali elaborated. The other Deathscythes stared at the pair for a second before looking at Stein.

"Well" Stein started after rubbing the area Hiro had kicked, "because of this wavelength, witches who had been in slumber will awaken, and there would be an increase in crime rates, but people aren't the only ones who will be affected. Atlantis would probably rise, mountains may collapse, there is a long list of things that may go wrong"

"So the enemy will move after laying low for a while?" Spirit asked.

"No, the Kishin Asura after regaining his powers, he's going to take a vacation. Of course his objective is to attack" Cali glared at Spirit before muttering "idiot."

"Anyways," Azusa cut into the beginning of the argument, "this situation occurred due to the error of these two, Lord Death, do you have any thoughts of corrective measures?" she asked pointing to Stein and Spirit. Cali personally didn't blame the two, after all, they were technically held up by a witch, not to mention that all the other "EAT" students were locked up in some dimension warp, minus three meisters and their weapons.

The Shinigami was silent for a while as Spirit cringed. "I was...thinking of some personnel change" he explained. At that, it seemed that Sprirt took a blow to the heart as he leaned over the edge of the platform and started to weep and mumble about leaving Death City and never seeing his daughter Maka.

"No, no.." Death looked at the mourning Spirit and shook his head "Spirit, you'll still be my weapon" he explained.

At these words, Spirit looked over his shoulder as he started to get up, tears and snot running down his face. "Are you OK with a guy like me?" he asked still weeping.

"Among the Deathscythes, you're the only one who can truly be called a "Death Scythe" so...take pride in that..." as Death was finishing, Justin knelt down before him.

"Oh God, what merciful words!" he said, admiration plainly seen in his eyes. Beside him, Spirit followed the example and knelt down.

"Thank you! I'm so happy"

"Though we're ending your stint as Stein's Temporary weapon. From now on, I'd like you to do your best to not leave Shibusen" Death finished, ignoring Spirit's odd behavior. "As for the other Death Scythes, I'd like you to remain in Shibusen as well to reinforce the defenses." Death then turned to Marie. "Marie, I want you to be Stein's new partner."

"eh? Me?" Marie looked stunned at what the Shinigami was instructing "But, wait! The reason I took the job as the Oceania chief is because the place is a peaceful area. I don't want a Shibusen post! My marriage will be delayed further!" she whined.

"Don't worry, you're a hard worker...you'll bounce back soon enough" Stein reassured.

"Don't say that" she grabbed onto Stein's lab coat.

"Lord Death, what will you have me do?" Azusa asked.

"For you" he seemed to pause to think "use your Breadth of your Worldview and try to track down Asura, and also, take over the Oceania Chief's post for a while in Marie's absence." Azusa nodded.

"As for Justin..." Death looked at Justin who was ignoring him for some reason "Ju~stin~" he tried again. Cali blew in his ear causing him to turn on her.

"What was that for?" he asked with a frown.

"Lord Death" Cali mouthed as she motioned to his ear buds, just as Spirit and Azusa were about to kick him.

"Well then" the Shinigami coughed as Justin pulled out his buds and turned to listen to the Shinigami he revered as God. "Justin, you'll remain in reserve. But as Stein said, you Clergymen will probably have a low infection rate, which includes you, meaning, in dangerous times, you and Hiro will partner up with Cali. Though she is still a Two-Star meister, because she refuses to take the title of a Three-star..." the Shinigami raised one of his large foam like hands in apparent irritation "...she is able to adapt quickly to different weapons. I doubt you will be infected by Cali's madness, but still, when you two partner up, be careful. If one of you believe that Justin is catching your madness, stop all links"

"Roger" Cali nodded.

"Why should I listen to you, damn shadowy bastard" Hiro nodded, his hand already a blade from his Naginata.

"He means: Yes Sir, everything you say" Cali once again explained for everyone else.

"As you wish, God" Justin nodded.

"From now on, Shibusen will have to change, Our guiding principal is: It's a brutal but cheerful life. Well then, dismissed" he nodded. As everyone turned to leave, he called out for Spirit, Hiro and Cali. "You three, wait a second."

"yes sir?" Cali asked as they turned around.

"It's about Stein"

"I'm going to the Bathroom" Hiro nudged Cali as they passed the washrooms.

Cali nodded "I'll be outside." Hiro nodded before disappearing behind the door. Once outside Cali noticed the familiar black and white clothes and the white cap. Slipping back inside and going to the water cooler, she picked up a paper cup, filled it with water and headed back outside to Justin. As she had her ear buds out, she could hear the song from his buds. "Still listening to that one song?" Cali asked after pulling out of the buds in his ear, and sat down beside Justin on the bench. She then handed him a cup of water. "Probably went to the Death Room right away after the drive through the Desert. No?" she asked.

"Thanks" he accepted the cup and took a sip as they looked across Death City. "May I ask what Lord Death wanted to talk to you about?" he asked, leaning back on the bench.

"Hm... you probably already know. But the thing was... he was warning me that when we partner up, to not use the Madness waves that I usually use with Hiro." She then looked directly at Justin, causing him to do the same in curiosity. "Justin I like you" she started just as Hiro came out from inside Shibusen. Justin's eyes were wide at what Cali had just confessed to.

"If you're wondering, she's wearing Red lacy ones" Hiro cut in sitting on the other side of Justin.

"Shut up Hiro" she hissed.

"What?" Hiro asked looking innocently around him "I just answered the question he was thinking"

"Not everyone thinks about sex, money, fighting and the next job like you" she narrowed her eyes.

"You forgot to mention, Callisto Abbey under the sheets" Hiro joked. Starting to get annoyed, Cali kicked Hiro in the leg.

"You know I hate that name." Cali hissed.

"Why?" Justin asked, he knew that she liked to go by the name Cali, but never really knew why.

Cali sighed and scratched the side of her head and looked at the blond. "You know how my mother was a witch, but I was born a human?" she asked and Justin nodded. "Well, mother's name was Jupiter, stupid name, I know, but in mythology, Jupiter was usually the king of the gods, and Callisto is one of the moons of Jupiter. This signifies that no matter how far I stray, I am still tied to..well..mother and she will always rule over me" she shrugged.

"And the last name?"

"I'm insane, despite only having known father for a couple days after being freed, thanks to Shibusen, I really liked him, best father ever. But I then realized, I wasn't normal, so I abandoned my last name to save that man, and his family, some grief." Cali paused "not to mention, apparently women in my family and holy men don't get along very well. Apparently my aunt was tricked and killed by a clergyman."

Justin raised a brow. "Her father was the pope's grandnephew" Hiro replied to Justin's silent question. "And was a Clergyman."

"Like I said, Us and Holy men, only bad things happen." Cali shook her head.

"Then why did you confess?" Hiro asked.

"I didn't" Cali shot him a look as if he suddenly announced himself 'sane'.

"You just said, "Justin I like you" and all that" Hiro glared.

"That? No I didn't finish" Cali shook her head before turning to Justin. "Justin, I like you, that's why I'm going to warn you-"

"Don't get close to me?" Hiro asked.

"No" Cali sighed "Passion can also be a form of insanity. Guard yourself well." Justin nodded and understood why she had said what she did in the beginning. Cali would never help, or warn, those she didn't like. If she talked with them in a friendly way, she probably liked them. She then stood up with Hiro, "well, we're going to have dinner. Care to join us?" she asked.

"Why not" Justin smiled lightly.

"Oh right, should we ask Stein and Marie to join us too?" Hiro asked.

"No, I believe Marie can take care of him...for the time being" Cali shook her head.

Justin turned to the two "why Stein?"

"I thought you knew" Cali frowned when Justin shook his head "Lord Death asked us, and Spirit, to look after Stein and his Madness..that's what he called the three of us to say."

"Hm" Justin hummed before putting in his ear buds. Cali shook her head before turning up her music and putting in her own ear buds. Hiro the only one not listening to music, not that he had to as he could hear both Justin and Cali's music clearly from their music devices, walked a little bit behind them. With a sigh he wondered how they weren't deaf from all the abuse they were inflicting on their ear drums.

After eating dinner at an inexpensive family restaurant, they parted ways as Justin headed off to his own hotel.

"Hey, can you meet us at the woods around...nine in the morning?" Cali asked just before they branched off the main road to go to their hotel. Justin nodded but looked confused. "I need to...how should I say this...try wielding you so I can adjust myself." Justin nodded once more before waving.

"BYE!" he said loudly.

"See ya tomorrow" Hiro yelled back before they turned into the smaller street to go to the hotel. His blue eyes shifted to Cali and wondered how she would be able to take this. After all, it had been years since either of them actually connected with regular soul wavelengths. Cali on the other hand was brimming with excitement as the thought of just what kinds of things she could do with a guillotine. She had always been excited to wield different weapons, not that she didn't think Hiro was a great partner, but sometimes, she liked to widen her range.

"I wonder if I can separate my insanity wavelength from my soul wavelength" Cali sighed aloud as they walked into their hotel.

"You can, after all, I'm not your first partner" Hiro chuckled at her worrying. Of course he worried too but it was different if the person who was supposed to be performing the task started to worry. "Don't worry."

"I guess...take a shower first, I'll take one later." Hiro nodded as they got to their room. "And, thanks" Cali added.

"No problem"


	3. Chapter 3: Guillotine Chair

All canon characters © Okubo Atsushi

 **Consumption**

 **Chapter 3**

 _ **Guillotine Chair**_

"We're late" Hiro sighed as he looked over to his meister who was still putting on her belt and fumbling to tuck her button up shirt into her black jeans, which had been washed by the staff, with a bit of extra money. It was 9:30 in the morning, thirty minutes after the arranged meeting time with Justin in the woods. They were late as Cali slept in as well as refused to leave the room without her shower. So, they were late, and probably keeping Justin waiting as well.

"Be quiet, you should have woken me up" she hissed as she just undid her belt, unbuckled the jeans and stuffed her shirt in before zipping her pants back up.

"I did, I had been trying for almost an hour, but then you shocked me with your soul wave" pouted Hiro, remembering the pain that came with the static she had emitted.

"I...I'm sorry ok?" she hissed not liking the fact that she had to apologize, after all, she had been in the wrong.

As they got to the edge of the woods, they found the music loving priest standing under a tree's shadow. Hiro raised a hand and called out "Chee-su. Mornin'." Justin looked up at Hiro's loud voice and raised a hand. Inwardly, Cali sighed as she knew she probably had to apologize to him too.

"S-sorry, you probably waited long" Cali apologized.

"I figured that you would be late so I arrived here around 9:20" he replied, voice loud as he was still listening to music.

"Y-yeah" Cali laughed nervously as she held down the urge to kick said priest for his, correct, but slightly rude, assumptions. Hiro chuckled at her as she tied her hair up into a messy bun, getting ready to practice. "You, be quiet for the time being" she quickly rounded on him before approaching Justin. For today, she had left her music device back at the hotel so she could concentrate on measuring her soul wavelength.

"Good luck, Cali" Hiro cheered monotonously as he climbed up a tree and settled down for a nap.

Justin took out his ear buds as Cali placed a hand on his chest, keeping him at arm's length. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on his heart beat as well as his "favorite" song, as she assumed since he was always listening to it. She wouldn't have been surprised if that one song was all he had on his D-pod. Slowing her breathing, she had found his wavelength, which was slower than her own, as she was usually adapted to Hiro's fast beats.

Though it was faint, she could make a bare connection with his soul wavelength, however, every time she tried to actually connect, the madness surfaced and threatened to enter Justin. Her hand twitched as she bit her lip, drawing blood. She wasn't getting anywhere and she had started to wonder if Justin was one of the few people she couldn't match up with.

"Damn holy men" she hissed under her breath as she thought about her father and the look of disgust her grandfather and great Uncle, had given her when she had visited. With a sigh, she pushed herself away from Justin and fell back to the ground, landing on her back with a dull thud. "Why did I agree to this" she asked herself as she rolled around on the ground, exhibiting behaviors she normally didn't show.

"Because God asked so you mus-" Justin was cut off by Cali's growl.

"Shut up and let me think" she closed her eyes and thought about his wavelength. It was a steady, slow beat of a man with faith in a higher power, similar to that of her father's. She cringed and turned to her side in a fetal position and opened her eyes to look around her. A small, multicolored, sketchy image of three horizontal eyes, lined up together with the largest eye in the middle, scurried around her view with odd, three pronged legs. She tried grabbing it as it came close but missed as it slipped from under her hand. That was when she heard a voice. It was odd, scratchy, and low. "Just use it" the voice urged "let the Madness Consume" it spoke again. At this, Cali started to laugh hysterically before she stood up, on unsteady legs, and skipped over to Justin, pupils constricted, and placed her head against his chest as her hands ran up his arms.

"Cali?" Justin asked, wondering if he had to knock her out to stop her madness.

"God I hate you Holy Clergymen," she wrapped her arms around him "I hate you so much since I can't touch you" she hissed then laughed again before abruptly stopping and leaning against the Death Scythe.

"Man that was embarrassing" Cali sighed a few minutes later "I lost control for a second" she took a deep breath and exhaled. "Calm down, let the madness sleep..." her hands shook as she unclasped herself from Justin, who still didn't look like he knew what he should be doing, and started to hum. It was a song her witch of a mother had sung to her to make her sleep. The only true form of love she ever received.

Fighting down the madness and separating it from her soul, she reached out and grabbed Justin's hand. "I got it." Justin nodded as he transformed into a guillotine. It looked like a crude C, the head rest had the hole for the head, and a neck thick passage that lead to the hole from the inside the weapon. The arm of the C, or the part that held up the blade, was open on one side while the other was able to move back 180 degrees. The blade could also be pulled out and swung from a chain. At the bottom of the head lock were two swinging blades which looked like crescent moons, attached to chains from the middle.

"er...I don't think I can fight with this..." she paused looking at Justin. "Do you have a more easier form?" she asked, not sure what Lord Death was thinking when he had asked them to pair up.

"This is why I don't have a partner" Justin started to wonder if this was a challenge handed to him by his God.

With a sigh, she took an experimental swing with the crescent blades before sliding the main blade up and down and just generally exploring the weapon. It was definitely different from the other weapons she had seen but she knew she could make it work. Pulling the arm with the main blade all the way back by 180 degrees, she swung him around with one hand, her hand in the head hole. She guessed that she could use him as a crude scythe and chain weapon.

"Hey, what is your Death Scythe Weapon?" she asked, she doubted his current form was it.

"That" Justin transformed back to his human form "we can do after lunch"

Cali checked her watch and noticed that it was almost noon. "Right, Lunch" she nodded before calling up the tree that Hiro had gone up when they had started. "Hiro! Lunch!" Cali looked back to Justin who was putting his ear buds back into his ears and wondered how Lord Death would wield him when she suddenly thought of asking the Shinigami himself.

As Justin and Hiro were walking over to the Deathbuck's cafe for lunch, she pulled out a mirror and called Death. "42-42-564" she hummed before the mirror started to ripple before showing the face the good hearted Shinigami.

"Yo, yo! Whatsup?" he asked wondering why she had called.

"I was wondering, how one, mostly you, handles a weapon like...Justin" she started "it's not like wielding a staff or a flail or anything like that, he's a guillotine, they're big and heavy"

"Well~ I'm sure you'll find a way, I believe in you~" he spoke as if it were a joke before signing off. Cali sighed as she stared at her small mirror and pulled her hair out from the bun. She didn't know what to do. So much for being able to wield all sorts of weapons, it was like fighting with a folding chair.

"Hurry up Cali, we're not ordering for you!" Hiro called back when he noticed that Cali had fallen behind.

"I'm coming" she shook her head and caught up with the two and entered Deathbucks to find a couple of students from Shibusen working there.

"Um, wh-what would you like?" asked a waiter, she seemed so timid to Cali and Hiro chuckled when she tried to take Justin's order. Cali, who was sitting across from Justin, tapped his foot with hers. When he looked up with a confused look, Cali pointed to the waitress and motioned to his ear buds. She started to wonder how many times she had done that, telling Justin to take his ear buds off.

The waitress started over again, taking their lunch orders and leaving before coming back with their food.

"Thanks" Cali smiled.

"You're welcome" the waitress nodded and walked off, looking much happier. Cali noticed how the girl had pigtails and thought about Maka and how she was able to see people's souls. It was a wonderful ability she and Stein possessed and sometimes, she got jealous.

Hiro watched as Cali and Justin ate silently, taking their time to slowly chew and sip. He had been asleep for most of their practice, but had woken up at one point to watch Cali losing control for a minute before returning back to her regular self. After that, he woke up a couple more times though he didn't think that they were doing too well. It wasn't just because of jealousy, but he sincerely believed that the two didn't make a very good, Meister/Weapon pair. He wasn't sure why Lord Death had gotten the two to partner up.

"Want some?" Cali held out her sandwich to Hiro, who had finished sooner than she did. He looked at her plate and found that there was too much food, for her, on her plate and nodded, accepting the sandwich. He figured that if Lord Death had put the two together, he had a reason to, or a plan, or at the least, he hoped the Shinigami had a plan.

By 1:00, they finished their leisurely meal and left to head back to the woods to train again.

This time, Justin transformed but it was different, much smaller but easier to swing around. It had a black head lock, with a white cross and a long chain coming from the hinge of the head lock. There were three blades, a large, main one that was meant to be used as the executioner's blade that goes through the thin slot in the head lock, while the other two were of crescent moons. The main blade was attached to the top of the head lock, ready to be pushed down on the neck, trapped in the head lock like a paper guillotine.

"Question" Cali started before even swinging.

"yes?" Justin replied.

"Why didn't you use this form in the first place?" Cali asked.

"I believed that you would be able to use me despite my...design" he explained "and I doubted that you would even attempt to try wielding my other form if I had shown you this one in the beginning."

Hiro laughed "true, it seems you know her better than I thought Justin" Hiro then stopped laughing then Cali gave him the evil eye. "R-right, I'll just be over here, watching...silently" he nodded and sat down in the shade of the tree, wondering when the next mission was.

The two stopped training at four and parted ways. Cali and Hiro made their way to the School while Justin, probably went to the nearest church. "Why are we going to Shibusen anyways?" Hiro asked as they made their way up the long stair way.

Hiro's question cut through the daydream Cali was in. "I wanted to talk with Maka for a second, maybe even Stein, they're good at looking at souls and wavelengths, I wanted to see if they could find out if I'm using madness or not when I match up with Justin," she explained "I don't want to find out later that I caused someone to fall into madness." Cali stopped on one of the steps. She wished she had her ear buds, that way she didn't have to talk.

"Then, what are we waiting for" Hiro smiled knowing that Cali wasn't in the mood to talk, she was still reliving the hours she spent, wielding Justin, to create attack patterns. Cali only nodded before continuing up the stairs.

Stein looked up the medical folder of Crona and sighed. Ragnarok was a regular demon weapon who was dissolved in black blood before being swapped with the blood of Crona to form what Crona now was, a bearer of black blood as well as a fusion between meister and weapon. He then thought about how it was a witch's soul that completed the transformation of a demon weapon into a death scythe. _In the end, it might be witches that cause Demon Weapons to evolve_ he thought. Slowly he started to want to dissect the child of a witch, especially the child of one of the Gorgon sisters.

" _you can't stand it, can you?"_ a voice came from beside him, the familiar voice that had been pestering him for days on end since he and Spirt had defeated her. _"It's not good to hold back"_ she smirked. He could feel it, the madness rising up from within his soul. It was distracting as well as extremely tempting. _"You want to dissect and cut up everything, don't you?"_ the image of Medusa appeared beside him as she chuckled lowly. Before he knew it, the image was sitting on his lap. _"You want to know, don't you. About that child"_ before the image could go any further, Stein brushed her away with an arm, blurring the image. Standing up, he slowly backed into the medicine shelf and sighed, sweat pouring down his cheeks as he tried to control himself.

Fixing his glasses he started to wonder how Cali and Hiro lived with this every day. Maybe they had gotten used to it and started to ignore it, or maybe it was different to accept insanity than to resist it.

"Stein!" Hiro barged into the room labeled, Dispensary, and greeted the scientist happily.

"Oh, it's just you two" he stood up normally and fixed his clothes. For a second, he thought he was getting sucked, further into the madness.

"That's pretty rude" Cali frowned "Where is Maka?" she got straight to the point as she felt the thick air of madness swirling around him. It was obvious to the both of them that he had just gotten out of a fit of madness.

"Visiting Crona" he answered.

"Crona?" Cali looked over to the open file and her eyes narrowed down on the name Medusa Gorgon. "That witch's daughter?" she hissed. Stein looked up at this.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"That witch's daughter?" she started again.

"You knew the nurse, Medusa, was a witch?" he asked stalking angrily up at her and grabbing the front of her shirt. "Why didn't you report it?"

Cali pulled his hands away from her and kicked him in the shin lightly "how about you calm down from your fit first before you ask questions, after all, it was after I graduated that some new nurse was brought in. So I never knew that the nurse's name was Medusa. Not to mention, after that incident, everyone knows that Medusa is a witch."

Stein relaxed and ruffled up his hair. "Why are you looking for Maka?" he asked pulling out a cigarette.

"One out of two long term smokers die due to health problems~" Hiro sang when Stein lit it up, gaining a glare from the scientist.

Cali thought for a second, wondering how to word it but ended up being blunt. "I want her to see if I'm using madness waves when I resonate" she explained. "Justin has been one of the few people who wasn't afraid of being our friend. I don't want to accidentally inject him with madness and essentially, turn him into you."

Stein chuckled at this "what's wrong with being me?" he asked with a raised brow.

"Too many to list" Hiro chuckled. "We'll we're off to look for them" Hiro announced before quickly opening the door and pushing Cali out, he wasn't very happy with the tension and the stench of resistance that hung in the air from Stein's madness. However, as he was in a hurry to leave, he didn't notice that there was a person at the door and had accidentally pushed Cali into him.

"I was looking for you two" Justin yelled causing Hiro and Cali to flinch. Outside his voice was fine, however, inside a long, empty hall, the voice carried and got louder.

"Why?" Cali asked as she motioned to his ear buds. However, Justin either didn't realize she meant, take off your ear buds, or didn't want to, and continued to talk with his ear buds in.

"God had sent me a message, we are to take care of some incidents that are happening in Vienna, Austria. One of the Orchestras there started harvesting human souls" he explained.

"When do we go?" Hiro asked.

"Right away, God has placed this job unto us and so we must attend to it immediately!" he exclaimed almost hurriedly.

"Ok ok, alright, just let me change" Cali sighed "and take a quick shower" she frowned as she felt a little sticky.

Though Justin looked more than impatient he sighed and nodded "ok, a quick shower, then we go"

"We need to get our bike too so we needed to drop by the hotel anyways" Hiro shrugged then spied the unused office chair, sitting innocently in the corner of the Dispensary. "And, you know what Justin? We'll meet you at the hotel" Hiro ignored the odd looks, Cali, Justin as well as the eavesdropping Stein was giving him and brought around the Office chair, stopping at Stein and asking him "You..don't need this, right?" he asked. Stein nodded, not sure what he meant.

"Good, Cali come on" Hiro practically sang "let's go back" he smiled knowingly at Cali, whose expression lit up like a bon fire.

"YES! I love you!" Cali laughed as she hugged Hiro around the neck.

"May we ask what you're going to do?" Justin asked wondering what it was that was making Cali so happy.

"Want to watch?" Hiro asked with a raised brow. Both Stein and Justin nodded hesitantly, not really knowing what they were about to attempt.

Outside the main entrance of Shibusen, Cali sat on the office chair backwards. Leaning on the back rest and wrapping her arms around it for support. Behind her, Hiro stood on the metal feet of the office chair and leaned over Cali. "Ready?" he asked already knowing the answer Cali was about to give.

"I was born ready" she grinned, gripping the chair tightly. Hiro grinned as he, with a powerful push, took off down the stairs.

Justin and Stein watched as the pair flew down the stairs, as if it were a ramp, ignoring all possibilities of getting hurt. Stein wondered how far gone they were to not be afraid of doing that. Even he wouldn't attempt such a feat, even if he was curious, he still had all reason intact to not fling himself down the stairs on his office chair for a suicide run down a long flight of steep stairs.

The Priest started to wonder if this was what madness was. The two obviously look like they were having fun, and it also didn't look like it was their first time. Justin now under stood what Hiro meant by "we'll meet you at the hotel." the two we're going down pretty fast.

Once Justin had made his way to the end of the stairs, he found that both Cali and Hiro were waiting for him. Attached to the motorbike was a small bag, most likely filled with extra clothes, their wallets, water and food. The license plate spelled "D3A7H42".

"Come on" Hiro grinned, revving the bike "I thought you were in a hurry to complete God's task."

Justin hopped on his dune buggy and nodded after turning on the engine. Then, ignoring the residents of Death City, who were staring and complaining about their loud noise, the three left. They had no time to waste, it was a long trip after all.


	4. Chapter 4: Arachno-Phobia

All canon characters © Okubo Atsushi

 **Consumption**

 **Chapter 4**

 _ **Arachno-Phobia**_

"...and that's the last one" Cali nodded after she decapitated one of the players who were running away, with Hiro in Naginata form. The red, corrupted souls were then sucked up into Hiro as storage before he changed back into his human form. "Let's report to Lord Death" Cali started as she dug through her bag for her hand held mirror, which she always had with her, and frowned before paling. "I-I lost my mirror" she started.

"This one?" Justin asked just as he finished dialing up the number to the Death Room. "It was hanging out from your bag so I borrowed it" he explained at her shocked expression.

"Yo! Hi hi! Whatsup?" the Shinigami asked but paused when he noticed how angry Cali looked. Which was pretty rare. Sure it wasn't rare to see her annoyed, or pissed, but it was rare to see the girl actually, angry.

"Justin honey~" Cali smiled with a dangerously sweet voice. Hiro chuckled silently before sighing, he didn't want to remember the last time he got her mad.

"Yes?" Justin asked wondering why Cali had added the word "honey" when she had called his name. The reaper looked on, wondering if there was something going on between the two.

"Hand me the mirror before I force you to take a Vow of Celibacy, with my foot, for eternity" she ended the sentence with a low growl.

"I'm sorry?" Justin questioned, not sure if he had heard her correctly.

"No, not apologies Justin, hand her back her mirror before she crushes you down there" Hiro warned the priest. The blond paled before quickly handing back the mirror to Cali, who thanked him before speaking with the Shinigami.

"We completed the mission sir" she reported "all 44 souls accounted for, including the Maestro. Currently Hiro is holding onto them. We shall hand them over when we return to Death City" she nodded.

"Right..." Death wondered if he was able to trust the two to another mission without Cali killing one of them, and decided to let Justin and Hiro handle that later "actually, can you three head over to the Czech Republic and go to Loew Village? I've already sent Maka, Soul and Crona there, however something is bugging me about the actions of the Golem" he explained, hoping that this gut feeling was nothing more than a feeling.

"Yes sir" Cali nodded before turning to the other two "Lord Death asked us to go help Maka, Soul and Crona with something in the Loew Village, Czech Republic"

"Sure thing" Hiro gave her a thumbs up before searching the bag for a map. Justin on the other hand started a speech on how wonderful and kind hearted the Shinigami was.

"R-right, when we finish the job, we'll contact you again" nodded Cali.

"OK! Bye bye bii~" the Shinigami ended the call with his usual happy tone before signing off.

"Well" Hiro gathered Cali and Justin around his map and pointed to the small dot in the middle of two towns, Pelhrimov and Havlickuv Brod near the town of Humpolec which was in the middle of the Czech Republic. "Get ready to go to the middle of No-where" he warned the two of the predicted events of four hours of boring scenery.

"Not really, if you use this Highway..." Cali trailed off as she traced the thick orange line up to Humpolec. "Then the smaller streets to Loew, we should be there in...three, no two and a half hours, if things go well" she nodded "of course there are toll routes we have to take as well but, the faster we get there, the better, right?" The males nodded at this. "Good"

"Lord Death!" Stein called from the small mirror in the library, he couldn't believe what he had found. "Lord Death, there's something I have to tell you" Stein started just as the image of the Shinigami appeared in the mirror.

"Sup! Did you figure something out?" he asked seeming quite calm compared to the scientist.

"Yes, the "Heretic Witch" Arachne is inside the golem that went haywire" he explained from end of his research.

"Arachne?!" Death asked surprised. He had long though that he had killed the witch 800 years ago, and he was sure that the other witches thought her to be dead as well.

"Yes, the eldest of the Gorgon sisters. If it's her, then it would explain why the golem was affected by the "Wavelength of Insanity"..." he started to trail off for a second before getting back on track. "This is too heavy a burden on Maka's group. I'll go now and-"

"Now now" the reaper raised his large hands and calmed the scientist down "don't get so worked up." Stein was immediately confused by the reaper's calm attitude. "I had a bad feeling too, so I had already dispatched some trust worthy allies" he explained.

"If we didn't have ties to Shibusen, we probably would have been pulled over for speeding and a number of other things on the highway" Cali sighed to herself as she hopped off the motorbike. Hiro kicked down the stand and got off the bike as well.

"What did you say?" he asked loudly as Justin's Dune buggy cut all sound away.

"NOTHING!" Cali yelled as Justin finally turned off the engine of the vehicle. "I was just talking to myself" she shook her head before looking around at the villagers. None looking too friendly, though she didn't know if it was because they were normally like this or if it was because of Justin's noise.

"Shall we ask around?" Justin asked in his loud voice.

"No, we're going to sit here and do nothing" she rolled her eyes. "It's best to ask a child if they had seen three people, an albino boy, and er..two girls" she hesitated to say that Crona was a girl or not. Even though she had previously called her, Medusa's Daughter, she wasn't exactly sure.

"The villagers don't look too happy, or very welcoming at that." Hiro apologized when he accidentally bumped into someone and jumped back when he noticed that the "someone" was actually a golem. "Swiss cheeses and London!" he hissed and quickly hid behind Justin, as Cali was too short for him to hide behind, while he and Justin were of the same height.

"That's a Golem" Justin pointed to the several other ones that were walking around the village. "The tradition of this village is to use those gloves," he pointed to the large brown gloves, with a gear printed on the back of the hand, that were on majority of the people in the village, "to pack in magical power and knead earth to make Golems" Justin explain to Hiro who looked around at the large moving chucks of earth. While Justin was explaining to Hiro, Cali had gone around asking as many people she could.

"I asked around but the people here either walked off or pretended not to know and sent me away" Cali rubbed her temple "this place, they're hiding something, I wouldn't be surprised if-" Cali stopped as she suddenly felt a wave of madness sweeping over them. "-if a witch was here" she finished with a grin.

"Cali" Hiro looked at her.

"Yeah, come on Justin, we know where they are, and hopefully, they aren't in too much trouble" Cali grit her teeth before running off into the forest behind the village.

It seemed that they had been running for a while when finally they reached the clearing in which the odd wavelength was coming from. Cali's eyes narrowed on the androgynous figure, about to be decapitated by what looked like an autonomous chainsaw weapon. Before Hiro could change into a Naginata, Justin surged forward. "Holy Cruciform sword hand" he said to himself as he cut in a cross formation across the chest of the autonomous weapon.

"Maka, Soul" Cali rushed over the two "are you guys OK?" she asked when she noticed that Maka couldn't move.

"Yea, we're fine now, but" Soul looked at Justin.

"He's Justin Law, a Death Scythe. He's a Guillotine weapon, master at close combat, and revers Lord Death as God." Cali explained the questions that were probably going through both their heads. "He graduated four years ago, at the age of 13, and became a Death Scythe as an autonomous weapon"

"SHIBUSEN STUDENTS!" he yelled "THERE ARE ONLY TWO ENEMIES, CALI AND I CAN END THIS QUICKLY SO JUST WAIT THERE FOR A BIT" he explained, his voice loud due to his ear buds.

"Is what he says but...he probably doesn't like that chain saw weapon since they are both autonomous weapons" Cali stood up and called to Hiro "Flail."

Hiro nodded and turned into a spike ball flail. Cali swung the flail once, adjusting herself to the weight before dashing off towards the Golem and the Witch. Taking the flail, she jumped and swung for the witch's head though it was deflected by her black fan.

"Arachne-" the Chainsaw weapon turned away from Justin for a second, his chains wrapping itself around Cali's leg which was raised to land a kick to Arachne's unprotected left side. The Chainsaw weapon pulled Cali away and smashed her into the nearest tree before Justin locked him with his Carcan Claw and head butted him. The caused the Chainsaw to let go of Cali while he flew off a couple meters away.

Cali hissed and stood back up when she noticed something she hadn't up close. The witch looked like a spider.

"Oh shit" Hiro face palmed as Cali curled up into a ball. This was enough to stop all fighting as they wondered if Cali had some surprise attack planned.

"Is this some sort of new attack?" Soul asked.

"No" Hiro changed back to human form "To tell you the truth, Cali has, Arachnophobia"

"A fear of spiders?" Maka asked and Hiro nodded.

"It seems that she finally realized that the witch looked like a spider" Hiro chuckled.

Arachne raised a brow and decided to use this pause to mentally attack Cali before she could blind herself with madness to continue fighting. "Callisto Abbey, only daughter of Jupiter" she started, causing Cali to look up from her curled up form.

"Arachne" Cali hissed before curling back up again.

"I wonder how your mother felt when you were born a human, and was unable to become the next Kishin" she chuckled humorlessly. "You failed to be a witch, you failed to become Kishin, you even failed to hate spiders; instead becoming afraid of them. I see you even failed to follow your mother's only rule and got close with a...holy man" she raised a brow at Justin, not quite sure if she could categorize him as a holy man.

Cali cringed as she listened to the spider witch, normally she was proud that she wasn't born a witch, and that she was saved by Shibusen before she became a Kishin's egg. However, when a witch spoke of these things, she suddenly felt depressed. Arachne stopped when she heard a noise from the Golem.

"Ignoring that" the Chainsaw weapon nodded to Cali who was still curled up into a ball, "Bad things happen when you keep your head phones on" he wiped away a bit of blood that was trickling out his nose with his thumb "but it looks like you won't listen to me whatever I say, ass kisser."

Justin tisked his tongue and waggled his index finger "I can read your lips, such dirty words, you're a bad boy" he smirked slightly as the chainsaw weapon started to get enraged with his purposely annoying actions.

"So you can read lips? And you've been pretending you couldn't hear me all this time" he paused as his anger rose higher "you make me sick!" he hissed.

Behind him, Arachne called to him. "Giriko"

"The hell you want?" he asked yelling angrily at the witch.

"I" she started as she looked at Giriko with eyes one would look at a naughty child with. "Don't like kids who yell" she explained.

At this, Giriko calmed down and started again "what is it Big sis?" he asked.

"The golem will run out of energy soon. Let us withdraw," she said to Giriko.

At the word of 'withdraw', Cali jumped out from her depression and stood back up. "single wield Kama" she hissed, Hiro nodded and changed into a sickle chain.

"Wait, don't run away!" Justin took stance for his Law Abiding Gun before noticing how Soul and Maka were in danger.

"Cali and I got this" Hiro explained as Cali sped off after the witch and the chainsaw weapon. Cali had already half submerged herself in her madness, to rid the fear of Spiders as she ran after them. Justin watched them disappear for a second before turning to help the Shibusen students.

"Cali, turn right here" Hiro instructed as Cali jumped off a tree to make a sharp turn. Soon she saw Giriko and Arachne. Using the weight on the end of the chain, she threw it with force to the ground right in front of Giriko, causing him to stop before the small crater that had been created.

"It looks like we have a visitor" Arachne frowned wondering if Cali had already submerged herself into madness. If she had, they had a slim chance of getting past this in one piece as she was still not at her full power, at having just gathered herself not too long ago, and with Giriko having already fought with Justin.

"I'll have you come with me" Cali giggled as Hiro changed into a Tiger claw.

"Close combat?" Giriko asked with a sadistic grin "you're asking to be ripped to shreds" he then gently placed Arachne down and turned to face Cali.

Her eyes were constricted as she watched Giriko before rushing in and sharply turning to the left to dodge a saw foot. Coming up behind the Chainsaw Weapon, she struck him in the middle of his back with her palm. "Soul surge" it was something she had learned from Stein, normally she used a weaker version of it to disarm Meisters from their weapons by misaligning their soul wavelengths.

Giriko flew a couple meters before rapidly turning back to Cali who was giggling away as if she had seen the funniest thing in the world. "Wow, you're either heavy or strong" she chuckled before rushing at him again.

"Damn, you're insane" Giriko grinned, his sharp teeth out on display as he blocked a forceful swing of the tiger claws by wrapping his forearm with chains.

"I know~" she sang merrily as she suddenly paused, stopping all movement for a second before jumping up in the air "Insane resonance" she chuckled as the tiger claws, attached to chains, formed on her other hand and her feet, the blades grew longer, allowing for a further reach. "Aren't they pretty?" she asked looking at the way the crimson, setting sun, gleamed on the metal.

"Insane bitch" Giriko growled, hoping to get away while Cali was distracted by her own weapon. He wondered how she was able to move so well, especially after the damage he had given to her leg, which was bleeding quite heavily as he saw it.

"Tut tut tut, you don't leave a lady in the middle of a dance" Cali waggled a finger and twirled around once.

"What are you talk-" before he could finish, Cali had thrown a tiger claw at him and wrapped the chain around his ankle. "Shit!"

"You think I forgot about my leg?" Cali asked, this time with some semblance of sanity "its payback time" she hissed as she reeled him in. That was when something was shot through her shoulder. It seemed that Giriko had picked up a pebble and threw it, with the help of his chains, with enough force to pierce through her shoulder.

"Blood" she looked at her reddening shoulder. Using this short space in time, Giriko aimed a regular kick to her head, knocking her out before turning on his saw foot to damage Hiro.

"Don't kill her, she will be useful later" Arachne stopped Giriko from smashing in her head with his foot. Instead, Arachne placed a spider on Cali and left with Giriko, who was still slightly angry that he wasn't able to kill Cali or Hiro.

Justin watched as Crona and Soul picked Maka up to carry her back to the village before deciding that he should go looking for Cali and Hiro and help them fight Giriko and Arachne. He didn't want to admit it, but the Chainsaw weapon was strong, probably as strong as himself. It annoyed him slightly think it. "You guys head back first, I'll go help Cali and Hiro" Justin yelled at them before running off, following the tracks both Giriko and Cali left behind.

He guessed he was ten minutes away from the clearing when he smelled blood. Taking off his ear buds, he could hear Hiro's voice.

"Cali, damn it, Cali wake up. Come on, I can't have you dying on me now" Hiro was desperate. He had seen her bloody and beaten before but that last kick Giriko had landed her, made her head strike a rock with more force than it normally would from a regular fall. Ripping off his shirt he tied it around her leg, which had been bleeding for a while as she had been running and using her legs. He could feel his own blood trickling down his face and his chest. The saw foot had really done some damage.

"Hiro, Cali" Justin pulled apart several bushes and rushed over to Cali who was in Hiro's arms, her arms were sticky with a rust colored mud from the dirt and blood on the ground.

"Get here faster you bastard!" Hiro growled before coughing up some blood. "Carry Cali, I can get back to the village on my own" he coughed again cursing at the damage that had been done.

"No, turn into a weapon, I'll carry both of you" he ordered. Hiro was about to argue but decided that arguing was just going to take up more time, and time was something they needed to save Cali. Hiro nodded and transformed into tiger claws. Justin picked Cali up and placed the tiger claws on Cali before running off. "Oh God, let us have the wind at our heels" he prayed as he tried to get thought the woods as smoothly as possible.

By the time they had reached the village, Maka had been placed in the coffin with Crona and Soul around her.

"Uwahhh!" Crona back away as if afraid "what-what happened to her-them?" Crona asked pointing to the bloody bodies of the pair in Justin's arms. Soul, alerted by Crona's question, looked over and frowned, wondering what had happened.

Hiro transformed back into human form and wiped the blood on his face with the back of his hand. "Justin, thanks" he paused for a second "don't tell Cali I said that," he added making the blond nod with a slight smile.

"What? What happened?" Maka asked as she was unable to get up from her place in the coffin.

"N-nothin'" Cali groaned. Her eyes looked around her and landed on Hiro's face. He was red around his eyes, making her smile. "Don't cry Hiro, I thought Heros weren't supposed to cry" she grinned weakly.

"I stopped saying that since we graduated" Hiro choked out, relieved that she was awake.

Soul watched as Hiro, Cali's partner, tried his best not to cry with the relief of tension and worry. His red eyes darkened as he thought that they wouldn't be in this situation had he been stronger. His eyes trailed around Hiro's back which was covered in both small and large scars, some fresher than others. The largest one being that of a discolored star pattern. It was obvious that the demon weapon trained a lot and worked hard to keep his meister safe. He then looked at Cali, who hardly had any signs of any previous wounds. Hiro had even used his own shirt to keep her from bleeding any more from her leg. If only he had been stronger, then Maka wouldn't have fallen into this odd curse, and the two people who were there to help wouldn't have gotten hurt.

When Justin brought her around to his Dune Buggy, he passed by Soul. Cali raised a hand and gently smacked Soul in the back of his head. "Stop moping Soul Eater" she smiled lightly when the younger teen looked at her with sad eyes, "you did your job and protected your partner, that's all you need to do. It was our job to help you, and on the side try to take down Arachne before she could come back into power." Cali shifted around in Justin's arms before pulling the cross with Death's mask away from her as it was poking her arm. "Now show everyone that handsome smile" she chuckled making the corner of Soul's mouth to twitch a little.

Justin sat down on the Dune Buggy and fastened Cali to himself using carcan claw from around his mid-section. "Hiro, do you think you can hold out until Prague?" he asked, from there they were going to visit the hospital for a quick treatment before heading back to Shibusen. Hiro nodded, slightly depressed that he was unable to take Cali with him on his bike, but knew it was probably safer with Justin. After all, one of Cali's arms was out of working order while it was also hard for him to stand up straight. If he were to end up in an accident, it would only be himself that got hurt.

"..and that's it Lord Death" Cali stood on crutches as she, Hiro and Justin stood before the tall reaper. "Prague, Hospital, Airport and Shibusen. Maka is in the Dispensary right now with Stein" she explained. Death nodded, proud to have such reliable allies around him. Even those who didn't hesitate to put their lives on the line to stop the madness, even if they needed it themselves.

"Well Good job, all three of you. Cali, Hiro, take a rest and heal up, and Justin, may I have a word with you?" Death asked. For once Justin didn't have his head phones in and could actually hear the Shinigami talk.

"Yes God, Justin will listen to your words with an open heart" he knelt down as he looked up at Death expectantly. Cali and Hiro shared a look before walking away.

"See you later Justin, have a good day Lord Death" Cali smiled before hobbling off, making comments at Hiro. "I heard you actually thanked Justin when I was passed out"

"What?! I thought-"

"I thought that you said you didn't like him for his belie-"

"Oh shut up, I'm not buying dinner if you keep-"

"yea yeah, open the door would ya?"

"sure-"

Their conversation faded into the background as Death talked with Justin.

"Arachne was revived so I guess Arachnophobia will come back from it's dormant state" Death sighed "well, how did things go with Cali and Hiro?" he asked wondering if Justin had noticed any changes in the behaviors of both Cali and Hiro. Thought he knew that the pair were both good souls, if they were in danger of being taken over by the enemy, he would have to put them into solitary, and in the worst case scenario, have them both killed.

"They seemed to be in more control of their emotions than they did while we were in School together. However-" Justin stopped for a second as he played with the cross dangling on his chest, "-I can tell that because of the Madness from the revival of the Kishin, it's easier for them to let loose their madness"

"Did you feel it from your training?" Death asked remembering how Justin and Cali had done practice sessions just before they had left for Vienna.

Justin nodded "for the first while, every time we would match wavelengths, Cali would pull away quickly. She had even lost control for a couple minutes, talking to herself about madness and consumption. After that however, it seemed that she was able to pull herself away. We then were able to make a normal connection, though I could feel her straining herself away from the Madness within her." Justin prayed for Cali as he finished. Death nodded and hoped that this was as far as Cali and Hiro would end up going. He could rule out Cali forming an alliance with Arachne, due to her arachnophobia, but the Kishin was a different story.

"OK, thank you, dismissed~" he sang happily as he waved Justin a farewell before turning back to his thoughts. With the Kishin loose in the world, Arachne had been revived, there was no telling what else would happen next. "With Arachne, another strong enemy has come."

Justin found Hiro waiting outside the Dispensary. "Hiro, can I ask you something?"

"About how you told Cali?"

"I didn't and no" Justin looked to the door and whispered "it's about that mirror"

"oh, it's not too big a deal" Hiro scratched the back of his head "her father had bought it for her, she's just a little protective of it. Never leaves anywhere without it"

"Hiro, I didn't know I gave you permission to tell others about my life" Cali opened the door and narrowed her eyes at Hiro who gulped loudly, "and Justin" Cali turned to the blond "knock and the door will be opened to you."

"Right" Justin nodded as Hiro and Cali limped away with their usual bantering between them.

"knock and the door will be opened to you" is not only a phrase from the bible (Matthew 7:7), but it also means the same as "ask and you shall be answered," if you ask a question, it will be answered. (In case you didn't catch that). As well as first you must give effort to gain reward.


	5. Chapter 5: Scars

All canon characters © Okubo Atsushi

 **Consumption**

 **Chapter 5**

 _ **Scars**_

Cali stretched and moved her arm in a circle before hopping on her leg. Though the scars were still there, the pain was not. She looked over at Hiro who was also stretching his muscles. After having been in recovery for the last week, they hadn't gotten much training done. Justin had already gone ahead back to Europe for a Death Scythe mission so both Hiro and Cali had been stuck in Shibusen, teaching Maka the things Stein taught in class so that she wouldn't fall behind.

"Feel OK?" Hiro asked as he cracked his back.

"Feel like I could run for weeks" Cali nodded as she pulled on her MAD-HATTAN hoodie over her red vector shirt. Pulling out her music device, she plugged them into her ears and turned the music up, ridiculously loud, louder than before. Hiro sighed, as they had been teaching Maka and because of their injuries, they had not been allowed to wear their normal clothes, and Cali, was unable to listen to music as she needed to listen to Stein.

He smiled lightly, somehow, they were back to normal, or as normal as they could ever be. Apparently, Stein was teaching a new lesson, starting today, as he timed it with Maka's recovery, and wanted the two to come, since they too had recovered. Thought in Stein's words it was "Come to the lesson tomorrow, since you recovered faster than expected...I might even have some fun planned for us."

"If his _fun_ consists of another dissection, I'll throw him off the roof" Cali sighed. She remembered the first two classes she had been in while they were injured. Stein had tried to dissect a Scimitar Oryx, and a Socorro Dove, both of which were extinct in the wild. How he hand managed to nab the two, she didn't know, or cared, but it was enough to send all the students into blind horror and rage.

Hiro only patted her back as the left the hotel room. Wondering if they needed a slightly more permanent place to live.

"Good morning Cali" Maka greeted but then frowned when she didn't react. Soul looked to Hiro for an explanation. The white haired Star Clan member pointed to his ears, the silence between the four made it easier to hear the sound of music coming from the earphones. Maka noted that the song was the same one she had heard Justin listening to the week before.

"Anyways, good morning to you two. How are you Maka?" Hiro asked noting how Maka seemed to be fully recovered.

"Good" the ashen blond young teen nodded.

"And Soul?" Hiro looked to him.

"Well" Soul nodded as well.

"That's good, let's head on to Class or Stein will get pissed" Cali headed down the hallway, leaving both Maka and Soul watching her with dumbfounded looks.

Maka closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, "don't tell me she can read lips too" she groaned.

"No" Hiro shook his head "she probably figured out what we were talking about by our reactions and facial expression," he chuckled nervously "don't get angry with her. I think she's a little irritated that Justin got a mission while we were out of action." Cali continued to class, not having heard Hiro and opened the door, slowly, ready to run if she saw another animal in a cage.

"You're here Cali" Stein looked over to the door, wondering why Cali was giving him the evil eye. He then noticed Hiro, Maka and Soul behind her. "Hurry up and come in" he called to the others as they skirted around Cali and sat in their seats. Hiro sitting on the office chair beside the chalk board. Cali too entered, and sat down in her seat, looking up at the six familiar faces she had ended up seeing almost every day while teaching Maka. Black Star was the only one not there.

"Where's the Clan kid?" Cali asked Hiro who shrugged his shoulders "probably in some fight or something" he guessed when Stein threw a scalpel at the whispering six kids.

"The next time, I aim for real" Stein chuckled causing the six to quietly sit down and nod obediently. Cali chuckled quietly when suddenly the door flew open.

"There's the kid" Hiro whispered as Black Star entered the classroom.

"Sorry, I'm late" he said, thought his facial expression didn't show a hint of apology.

"Another duel?" Stein asked as Black Star nodded "the witness?" he added. As was a rule in Shibusen, that if there was a battle or duel on school grounds, a teacher had to be present as a witness.

"Miss Marie" Black Star answered.

"The result?"

"I'm a man who is greater than God," he pointed to himself proudly "of course I won" he grinned.

Stein didn't seem to be listening as the turned his back on the blue haired boy "it doesn't change the fact that you're late" he them thumbed to the door "please stand in the hall" he ordered as Black Star swore under his breath. Once Black Star left, closing the door after himself, Stein started. Clearing the board of the previous week's lessons on the organization Arachnophobia and the witch Arachne.

"As I mentioned last week and this morning, we will start a new lesson today" Stein looked around at the students. "As mentioned in the previous lessons, the wavelength of Insanity has caused the organization Arachnophobia to awaken." Stein paused to write on the board. "Starting from now on, I will be teaching methods in opposing them. Duel Arts" he slammed his hand on the chalk board, gathering every student's eyes to the large printed words on the board.

A couple murmurs and whispers passed though the class. As it was a class of EAT students, students who were actually in Shibusen to fight, they all had some amount of experience in fighting. "Let's get started. Cali, come down here" he ordered, pointing to the space beside him. Cali nodded and walked up. "Well, since we have some...not-so-smart people in this class, rather than a verbal explanation, we will focus on praxis." Though Stein was trying to look around the classroom when he said this, it was obvious that he was talking about the Thomson sisters, as well as Black Star in the halls.

"Would the students I call, please come to the front" he looked down on the piece of paper in his hand. From where Cali stood, she found that the paper was actually blank. "Ox and Harvar pair, the recently released Maka and Soul pair" he then paused looking at Tsubaki. "Black Star, get back in here" he yelled so that the teen outside could hear.

However, when Black Star did enter the classroom, he was sweating and panting as if he had been exercising. "sheesh, go out, get in, make up your mind" he pouted looking slightly annoyed.

"Since you would destroy the hall with a weapon" Stein continued, not missing a beat as he ignored both the sweat and panting, "you will be unarmed."

The students lined up before Stein and Cali before Stein started with the initial explanation of the exercise. "So far, you have only matched wavelengths with your partners, however, if you kids face larger, and stronger, enemies alone, you will be crushed. Therefore, I shall teach you 'Team Soul Resonance'." Cali groaned, she had hated this part of Shibusen, team plays.

"Team Soul Resonance?" Maka asked looking as confused as the rest of the class.

"Well, since this is your first lesson" Stein then mumbled "and since I doubt you will to it well on your first time" before addressing the students again "you will be attacking, her" he patted Cali's shoulder, "in three men cells. You will have to attack seriously though. Attack as if you were going to kill her." Cali glared at Stein and sighed wondering if this was the _fun_ he had said he had planned. "Cali will also be unarmed" Stein then turned to her "don't hold back, but don't hurt anyone too bad. You probably won't have to do so much other than dodge."

Cali nodded, wanting to have some real action, but it was Lord Death's order to watch over Stein and his students. For the current moment, Stein's madness level wasn't increasing too much, though it was increasing when he wasn't paying attention. The students on the other hand seemed fine and Cali concluded that they weren't too affected by Stein. Though she was worried that they would accidentally pick up the habit on dissecting rare things.

Cracking her knuckles and her neck, she grinned, "come on, I'll push you off the roof if you hold back" she chuckled sadistically. Somehow the threat didn't sound like being thrown off the roof was all she was going to do, it was almost as if there was some hidden torture she was going to preform before the roof even came close.

"Whatever! I'm rearing to GO!" Black Star yelled before rushing in to take a swipe. He had thought it was going to be like last time, but easier since she didn't have a weapon. However, he was wrong. When Stein had said, "don't hold back," he had meant, don't go easy on them and let them land a blow. And so, Cali easily dodged the palm thrust that was obviously aimed for her mid-abdomen.

While Cali dodged the useless swipes to her face she looked over at Maka. "Maka, don't think too hard on this. Ox too. Over analyzing is bad too."

Ox then readied his spear. "Then we're going in too. I'll show you the power of the lightning king," he said before charging. Cali quickly grabbed Black Star by the collar and used him as a human shield. Ox had said Lightning King, hinting that Harvar had lightning principals. "Sai-ya!" Ox yelled as he stabbed Black Star. "Lightning King~" he called almost lazily as a large lightning shock discharged onto Black Star.

Cali immediately let go, watching with pitiful eyes as Black Star started to argue with Ox. That was when Cali heard Maka call out and backed way just enough for her to miss by two or three inches. However, the end of the pole hit Black Star across the face as she swung.

Cali sighed. It was funny to watch, for sure, but in the end, it was really sad that they didn't even understand the basis of teamwork. She moved next to Stein as Ox shocked both Maka and Black Star. "This is your idea of _fun_?" she asked raising a brow.

"Well, they're worse than I imagined. I thought they would be good Guinea Pigs as they normally work well."

"Yea Guinea Pigs, without the smell of ammonia." Cali chuckled "but really, they don't even understand what basic team work is" she shook her head when Black Star declared that he quit and instead was going to battle Ox.

"Be my witness Professor!" Black Star didn't even look back before he and Ox stood at the front stage. Before Ox could finish his speech on how he knew he was one day going to fight Black Star, the Star Clan member had already punched him in the face, yelling at him to Shut up.

"In a lesson on team work...you've beaten a comrade senseless." Stein shook his head wondering why they sucked.

Hiro stood up and smacked Black Star over the head. "Calm down" he hissed "I'm telling you this as a Family member. Continue at the pace you're going, and you'll end up alone." Black Star growled and turned on Hiro but calmed down for a second, remembering the whispers he had heard after his fights. Especially the words the other being in Tsubaki had said. "A monster" students said "Demonic Look" the other being. He sighed and nodded, he didn't like Hiro, not since the first day, but respected him to a certain degree.

"Well class, since you have seen what happens when a team is uncoordinated. I have decided to put everyone into groups. These will be your groups, there will be no changes and if we were to go into battle, you are not to leave your group." Stein gathered the attention of the students before calling names.

The week passed by uneventfully, the students usually training outside in the forest behind the school, while Stein, Cali and Hiro wandered around, making sure that no-one was trying to kill each other from frustration. Every once in a while Cali or Hiro would come to stand by Stein before walking off again. Neither had really felt any difference in his Insanity. Rather it had been going down until one day, it suddenly spiked back up.

Alarmed by this, Cali and Hiro, barged into the Death Room to report.

"Lord Death" Cali called to the masked Reaper just as he was finishing a call with someone.

"Hi, hi, whatsup? What brings you here?" he asked, looking not too surprised at their visit.

"Stein's insanity was going down" Cali explained, Hiro nodding before suddenly making a motion of raising his hands into the air.

The Shinigami cocked his head to the side "was? Are you saying it's rising now?" he asked looking to Hiro, who smiled and nodded.

"Yes, it started rising two days ago. I thought it was nothing too big and thought it would go down but..." Cali paused feeling as if she had failed Death. "My apologies sir for not having reported this sooner." she bowed. Hiro looked at his partner and then to Death before bowing as well.

Death was silent for a while before waving his large hand "its fine, we'll just have to keep a closer eye on him I guess" he bent his body to the side. "Well Cali and Hiro, can you talk with Sid? I want to include you two in a certain mission that will take place soon."

Cali looked up at the reaper "what kind of mission?" she asked.

"The Battle for BREW" Death answered.

Hiro and Cali exchanged looks and nodded "yes sir"

"More witches" Cali sighed. She stood at the balcony of one of Shibusen's many platforms and looked down at Death City. Hiro had gone ahead to look for an apartment, as he had told her he was thinking of finding a permanent home here. Which made much more sense seeing as they had already been living in Death City for almost a month, maybe a bit more. First it was Jupiter, then Medusa, and now it was Arachne. When she had talked with Sid about the mission, he had given her and Hiro a detailed explanation of the plan. There were not too many flaws, so she doubted there would be any changes from now till the day they were to leave. However she didn't completely agree with letting Stein and Marie go into the Magnetic field, nor did she like the idea that only two teams of Shibusen Students would accompany Stein and Marie.

"Brew, Eibon, Arachnophobia...Insanity" she sighed, the Sun, which had been laughing not too long ago, started to set, the expression on its face showed that it was struggling to stay awake. Closing her eyes she thought about the mission once more. It was going to be hard for both her and Hiro to stay sane with blood being shed around them.

"Then let go" the deep scratchy voice rumbled in her chest. It had been the same voice she had heard when she had lost control when trying to match with Justin.

"No" Cali sighed.

"Yes, it's hard to stay here, come on" the voice soothed again.

Cali grinned "it _is_ hard to stay here" she giggled "but" abruptly stopping her giggles she spoke again "you're too much of a coward now. Ask again when you're not scared of me." Cali looked up to the darkened sky and to the grinning moon. Blood was running down it's mouth. "I'm not too big a fan on getting killed" she hissed at the moon.

"Scared?" the voice asked.

Cali stood up, grinning. Her hair which had been in a pony-tail, was now down as she climbed up on the rails. "Yes, you're scared"

"No"

"Yes"

"No"

"Yes"

"NO"

"YES"

" _NO!"_

"…Yes" she started to walk along the rail, her body swaying in the night breeze. That was when she saw him. The Kishin, Asura. Sitting at the end of the rails, looking out onto Death City.

"No" he disagreed.

"No" Cali agreed to his disagreement "you're not" she giggled like a school girl before sitting down beside the image of Asura she saw.

"Madness is swirling within Death City" Asura grinned "soon, you will all be consumed"

"Humans are strange creatures" Cali looked to the bandaged man "they have a strange way of surviving"

"I thought you were on my side"

"You thought wrong" Cali laughed.

"What's so funny?" Spirit asked appearing from the door.

"Nothing" she shook her head, ignoring the way the image of Asura was staring at her. "I have to go, it's late" Cali waved, not to Spirit but to the image still sitting on the railings. The red headed Death Scythe looked around him, wondering who it was that Cali had been waving to.


	6. Chapter 6: BREW

All canon characters © Okubo Atsushi

 **Consumption**

 **Chapter 6**

 _ **BREW**_

Hiro looked from where he sat on the boat. Cali was currently speaking with Sid about the plans. Little had been changed, though rather than Hiro and Cali being in Sid's squad, they were to lead their own squad through the snow. The island wasn't called the Lost Island for nothing as the island was near no known land masses.

Hiro remembered when Cali had entered their hotel after the moon came up. He had found a good apartment for them, by pulling a few strings called 'Shibusen', and he had hoped to tell Cali the good news. However it was past 2 in the morning when she had arrived at the hotel, which was after Hiro had fallen asleep. Spirit had told him that he had seen Cali talking with someone on one of Shibusen's balconies the night before at around 9:00 pm, though they were not sure where she had disappeared to between those two times. Cali was no different from her regular self but he was still worried about her for she had been missing for almost 5 hours with no witnesses.

"Hiro, we're landing soon" Cali walked up and broke his thoughts.

"Our Squad?" he asked looking around for anyone who may be in the team.

"Over there" Cali pointed to the small group lined up at the edge of the barge, ready to jump off the boat the second they landed. "Come on Hiro, single wield sickle chain" she held his hand as she pulled him up.

"Okay" he nodded. He could worry later, they were going into battle against Arachnophobia after all and he needed to keep his wits about him.

The barge suddenly lurched forward as a loud grating sound passed through the metal boat, vibrating through. Cali held the sickle in one hand while she held the chain in her other one. She was among the first to jump off the boats as she was a squad leader. Counting her men she marched through to her area. The battles that were to be fought today were not to win, but to keep the other side occupied, and it was no doubt that the organization, Arachnophobia was probably doing the same.

"Don't let your guard down, think of every snow pile as an Arachnophobia underling in hiding" Cali warned, the others behind her nodded and voiced that they had heard and would do as she said. Though she was younger than the others in the squad, they trusted Sid's judgment and so, trusted her.

"This is…" one of the men asked as they passed one of the ruins.

"The ruins of the Demon factory that was destroyed 800 years ago" Cali answered. "The magical power from the explosion caused the island to go from lush forest to snow desert hell with a magnetic field around the factory," she added.

"Tha-" Cali pushed the one speaking into a snowbank just in time for him to dodge a knife.

"Stand your guard, we have visitors" Cali threw the chain to the small bit of shadow and dragged out an Arachnophobia underling. "Sorry for the poor hospitality, but we're out of tea" she chuckled before cleaving the person in half with the sickle. This was the signal for battle. "Move in two man cells, watch each other's backs" she yelled as she pulled an enemy person into a choke hold with the chain before snapping their neck.

"Cali, it looks like the other squads are fighting too" Hiro observed as he heard the sounds of battle not too far from their own area.

"Do they need help?" she asked.

Hiro shook his head "no."

"Then I could care less" she hissed when she kneed someone in the stomach, only to find that this person had some sort of metal plating around their stomach. Angrily she balled her hands into fists and slammed them on the enemy's head, knocking them to the floor before kicking them on the back of their neck with a downward strike with her heel.

"You ok?" Hiro asked.

"Bastard had armor" she nursed her knee for a couple seconds "it's gonna bruise" she sighed. "Tiger Claw, I'm getting bored."

"Make sure to keep away from the squad members" Hiro warned as he changed.

"I'm not that stupid" she chuckled to herself before calling to her men. "Men! And woman," she included the one female who was in their group "Stand back!" she yelled in warning before going into a resonance with Hiro.

However, as she tried to move, she found herself restricted by her winter clothes. "Damn this" she growled, stripping off the warm winter coat and snow pants, leaving her in loose fit cargo pants and a black sweater. "How long until I get frost bite you think" she asked Hiro.

"More than an hour"

"Ten minutes is good enough" she then lunged at the Arachnophobia underlings. Her feet were kicking snow up into the air while clawing the enemies around her. She and Hiro currently knew no fear. All they knew was joy and blood. They were just occupied with staining the pure white snow with their favorite crimson color.

When enemies grabbed her or the chains around her, Cali shocked them with her soul, injecting enough insanity into them to turn them against their own comrades. "Whee!" Cali yelled gleefully as she jumped off one of the enemy person's face. She landed in the middle of their attack group. She disabled those she could with her soul and killed those who were within the tiger claw's range.

The squad watched in both fear and admiration. They didn't know that their leader had been such a good fighter. Cali was currently fighting the attack force alone with Hiro while her squad watched. They had been warned by Sid just before they landed. If Cali was to ever enter into a Soul Resonance with her partner Hiro, then it was in their best interest to back out of the fight. Now they knew why, it was doubtful that either of them knew who it was that they were fighting.

Some squad members had gone off to help another team which was being defeated, off in the lower ruins.

"Cali!" Hiro suddenly yelled causing her to stop moving "Heads up!" he warned. Cali looked up and paled, above her was the remaining snow from an avalanche.

"Oh shit" she hissed as she curled up into a ball. The snow had completely missed her and instead, washed the enemies down the incline. "I'm going to kill whoever it was that caused that avalanche" she sighed in relief, sitting down on the snow. Hiro transformed back into human form and looked up at the cliff over them.

"Miss Cali" one of the squad members came around with her coat and snow pants. That was when Cali finally noticed the cold and shivered violently in an attempt to get warm again.

"T-thanks" she took the clothes with chattering teeth and put them on as quickly as she could.

"Baby" Hiro mocked "it's not that cold"

"Then live here you polar bear bastard!" Cali kicked him in the shin before pushing him into the snow piles head first. The squad members laughed as the two continued to argue about the cold.

Justin looked over at the snow golems which he had just sliced up. It was a shame he couldn't fight Giriko as he had wanted to end it once and for all with him. With a quick prayer he looked over the edge of the cliff, hoping to see his specially tuned Snow-mobile somewhere in the snow. Which he didn't see at the moment, however he saw Cali and Hiro arguing with each other while pushing each other into the snow. The squad members around them were laughing as well.

It pleased him a little to see that the introverted pair seemed to be getting along with others. Though he would never admit it, he did sometimes miss the two, who had been his only friends while in Shibusen, before he became a Death Scythe.

"Oh God, my snow-mobile!" Justin yelled gleefully when he found the black and white snow-mobile not too far from Cali's Squad.

"YOU!" Cali looked up at the voice. Now she knew how the Avalanche had started.

"Oops" Justin remembered that Cali was under him. He could faintly see her lips making long strings of threats she was planning on carrying out. Maybe he should have stayed quiet for a little longer, just while Cali was calming down.

Suddenly a grappling hook lodged itself into the rock beside his head. Below was Cali, holding onto the end of the rope. "Come on Justin, the signal for retreat is up" Hiro said. Justin looked at Hiro, who was reflected on the metal of the grappling hook and nodded. Slowly Justin rappelled himself down the cliff and stood beside Cali, who didn't look too happy.

"How are your injuries?" he asked, talking about the injuries sustained from Giriko the few weeks before.

"We're fine" Hiro butted into the start of their conversation with Justin's Snow Mobile. "Here" he turned Justin away from Cali and whispered "she's still a little angry that you got a mission while we were teaching kids...and the avalanche didn't help too much." Justing nodded, he wasn't trying to anger Cali, but it annoyed him slightly that she was angry with him. Sure the avalanche had been his fault but, the mission assignment was not.

"um..Miss Cali, we should head back to the rendezvous point" a squad member came over with his weapon. Cali nodded ignoring the way the two males were whispering to each other.

"Do we have any injured?" she asked as she was led back to the rest of the squad.

"No"

"Good" she smiled "….Thank you"

"Y-you're very welcome!" he saluted.

Cali nodded again before readying everyone so they could leave. She was notified of a few who had left the squad to help another one and nodded. Finding that both Hiro and Justin were still whispering to each other with their backs to the group, she silently stalked up and pulled on Justin's shawl. She had plenty of time to get mad later. Her current priority was to find the other members of the squad.

Justin turned around and pulled his ear buds out.

"Can you go and see if you can find a few people from my Squad?" she asked "they went to help another squad in the lower ruins."

Justin nodded, he had been expecting her to be at the least, sarcastic about something, but she hadn't been. "Sure, do you know their names?" he asked.

"Garrett, Dolen, and Johnathan" Cali explained before turning to Hiro. "Come on, we're going back to the boats"

"Y-you know, I think I'll help Justin back to the boat" Hiro explained wanting to ride the snow mobile.

"Fine" Cali said almost coldly as she instructed the others to go back. Hiro waved to Cali as she and the squad disappeared behind a snow bank before he stopped.

"You could have been an autonomous weapon and have become a Death Scythe if you hadn't partnered up with Cali" Justin started back from their conversation. It was a well-known fact between most of the Death Scythes and teachers in Shibusen that Hiro and Cali had attempted the 100th Witch soul, three times. However, every time they had attempted it, the witches would use Cali's past as a weakness and would run away when they were injured.

Hiro smiled wryly, "I know, but..." Hiro scratched the back of his head and chuckled, a light blush tinting his face. "You're trying to make me say it aren't you?" he asked looking slightly embarrassed.

Justin smiled lightly "it would be nice to hear your heart out" he nodded.

Hiro's blush darkened "yeah, I like her, always had. I don't want to be apart from her for too long, and, I really would die for her, not because she's my meister, but because I love her..." he then turned on Justin "that's why I don't like you near her."

The blond raised a brow "I'm not sure I understand."

"I don't either" Hiro shook his head. This caused Justin to be even more confused.

"You know...she used to be a cry baby, Cali" Hiro grinned. This surprised Justin, since meeting her in Shibusen, she had never seen Cali cry, Hiro maybe once or twice, but never Cali. He had always guessed it was due to the insanity. "Before we started Shibusen, she was afraid of everything. She was afraid of darkness, but not the night, and she was afraid of the day, but not light."

"Then how did that work?" Justin asked.

"She slept in a lighted, windowless room in the day, and would go out at night on streets with lots of streetlamps." Hiro looked far into the distance "that was when she relied on me the most."

They were silent for a time, Justin now wondering about Hiro's own past. He had never really been interested in their past, accepting them the way they were, but now that the subject had come up, he was curious.

"If you're wondering about me, my real name isn't Hiro, it's Yami Hoshi. Which would translate to Dark Star in English. From the time I could transform into a weapon, I was pitted against other weapons, sometimes children, other times a dying weapon, in soul battles." Hiro shuffled the snow around his feet "If you don't know the basis of Soul Battles, it is when one person enters the soul of another and they fight within the soul, by trying to absorb them."

"And you have...more than 5 forms I'm guessing?" Justin asked as he sat down on his snow mobile.

"Six. In soul battles, there isn't a 100% chance that you will be able to absorb the soul and or weapon. I've never used my own weapon before, it's too stained with blood."

"So..." Justin fell silent, it didn't sound right to ask about his real form, or about how many he had killed.

Hiro knew what Justin wanted to ask "I'm a ninja-to, and I've probably gone and killed 10 people or so in 6 months. It's not many compared to my siblings." he scratched the back of his head. "It's kind of depressing and I always hated the way they looked, the things they said when I killed them. So stupid, idiotic, 'don't kill me' they cry and it was so nice to finally shut them up!" slowly Hiro's madness slowed down. "Well, there you have it so...let's go find them missing persons."

Cali stopped at the boats and looked over her shoulder. She had actually expected Hiro and Justin to have arrived before them, as they were with a Snow Mobile. She doubted that Hiro would be sulking because she had been irritated with him, and didn't think Justin cared too much that she was still, angry with him. Letting her Squad sit down or go help others, she went to report to Sid, who seemed to have arrived, looking a little bloody.

"What happened?" she looked to the two gashes, one on his right shoulder, which was bleeding heavily, and the one on his side, which wasn't too bad.

Nygus had answered instead of Sid. "Mifune, a man with a strong soul, we met him."

Cali frowned, it took a lot to injure Sid, but it seemed that this Mifune character, was one of the few who could actually stand up against him in a head to head fight. "I didn't know Arachnophobia had anyone with strong souls."

"That-"

"Mr. Sid!" Kim and Jaqueline, who had been in charge of creating the retreat signal ran over to them. "It's Professor Stein and Miss Marie..."

"Found you!" Hiro pulled Garrett from the snow bank. Jonathan and Dolen had gone ahead to the ships, however, Garrett had been swept away by some of the snow from the avalanche. Of course, both Hiro and Justin stayed quiet about whose fault the avalanche was, opting not to say anything to avoid having to lie.

"Are ya injured?" Hiro looked him over, not seeing any blood.

Garrett cracked his neck and shook his head. "Not any that I am aware of, I will catch up with Dolen and Jonathan. I'm sure Miss Cali is...well not worried but.."

"Ok" Hiro chuckled knowing that Cali was never one to worry openly about another person. "Thanks, but there may still be some Arachnophobia underlings around and...if I don't guarantee your safety...Cali will string both of us by our toes, upside down from Shibusen's roof tops..." Hiro motioned to both himself and Justin. It seemed that Garrett understood and made no more objections. As three people didn't fit on the snow-mobile, Hiro transformed into a grappling hook and was placed on Garrett's lap.

"What took you so long?" Cali hissed as she secured her gloves and boots. After having taken part of a quick physical, she had been selected to take part in a probable rescue mission to get Stein and Marie, as well as the other Shibusen Students.

"We were looking for everyone." Hiro replied as he changed back to human form.

"Good to see you're alive" she nodded to Garrett before addressing Hiro "it doesn't matter, we're going to the Magnetic Field. No questions, I'll tell you as we get there" she answered Hiro's silent question. The sky darkened noticeably as the snow started to get worse. The rescue party of roughly 8 people quickly made their way to the field as they didn't want to waste any time.

"Oi! Is everyone alright?" Sid asked as the group saw the lump of students and Marie, hugging.

"Sid, Nygus, Justin, Cali and Hiro too" Marie yelled looking more than relieved when she saw them.

"We were worried about you" Sid looked around for enemies as he approached them.

"It looks like we found everyone" Justin explained "it's unfortunate but, one of the enemy forces got away" he said regretting letting the Chainsaw weapon get away.

"The mission was to get BREW, not destroy the enemy forces" Cali explained reminding the blond priest the objective of the mission.

"Yes well..." Sid ignored the cold attitude Cali was giving Justin and turned to Marie "speaking of which, where is BREW?" he asked. Marie looked down and shook her head, biting her bottom lip. Sid ignored the bad news and turned to Stein, helping him up and handing Maka a small mirror.

"I'm sorry, we couldn't get Brew" Maka hunched her shoulders as she and Cali walked side by side.

"It's fine, you're still kids. No need to take too much responsibility for this" Cali patted Maka's head. Before them was Sid and Stein. Cali bit her lip, if only she had spoken up about her doubt on Stein's sanity, maybe they would have gotten Brew. She could really feel it now, the insanity that was swirling around Stein. It was no longer the awakened insanity within him, it was now, pure insanity that was smothering him, and taking over his thoughts.

But he was still fighting it. And she wasn't sure whether it was a good thing or not.

"Let's go home, to Death City"


	7. Chapter 7: MOlE hUNTING

All canon characters © Okubo Atsushi

 **Consumption**

 **Chapter 7**

 _ **MOlE hUNTING**_

Cali and Hiro stood before the Reaper. The masked man staring at the pair, waiting for them to start speaking. Cali narrowed her eyes, grit her teeth, clasping and unclasping her hand around her music device. It was off, but she was carrying it around, in case the talk didn't go well and she needed to blow of some steam. Hiro watched his meister hesitate with unmoving eyes. He had watched her practice her talk about twenty times before she had arrived and knew the topic she was going to bring up.

"So~" the Reaper coughed into his large hand wondering when Cali would start. He would have asked Hiro to speak, if he was able to understand what he was saying. "Would you like some tea?" he asked, bending to the side.

"No" Cali broke her silence "I believe that Stein should be placed under House Arrest" she started "and that we should focus more on the Kishin."

"I can understand Stein, but why the sudden interest in Asura?" Death asked. He wasn't sure whether the interest in the Kishin was in good intentions or not, though he did want to trust in Cali and Hiro. "When we had that talk about the Kishin, you didn't seem to care too much about him~"

"Well, Lord Death" Cali held back a sigh at the light way the Reaper was speaking. "When you mentioned the Kishin 'Asura' at that time, you made it sound as if he was going to stay in hiding for a long time." The Reaper nodded, remembering the words she had spoken more than a month and a half before. "But the insanity has not only spread, but it is also starting to affect some humans and the world."

"I too have felt it" Death nodded. He had felt the wavelength getting stronger each day. The incident with Stein, his sudden exponential spike in his madness, didn't help with figuring out how, or why, the Kishin was getting strong, so quickly. "And as for Stein. He is under strict watch, but I will make sure to change that into House arrest. I have also called Joe Buttataki for I think that we have a spy in Shibusen."

Cali frowned, knitting her brows together "I'm not staying in Shibusen while that, Sandal and Shorts, guy comes around" she spat.

"Sorry Cali but I need to place every staff member through a check."

"His soul perception is too strong." Cali whispered to herself before turning. "Then see you later, Lord Death." she then made her way down the long hall to the door. Every now and then she would see the same, cowardly bandaged man following her.

"Cali, I finished with the apartment finding, so we just have to move our things in tomorrow and..." Hiro realized that she wasn't listening, even though she didn't have her ear buds in, it was obvious by the look in her eyes that she probably didn't even properly see the things ahead of her.

"She's talking with me" the Kishin appeared behind Hiro. He quickly turned to face him. "Just talking, _talking_ , talking... _conversing_ " and with that, Hiro waved his hand in the air. The image of the Kishin disappearing like smoke.

"Hiro, I'll be home late" Cali said, not even looking at her partner. The white haired teen nodded and then, shrugged, since Cali had told him she was going to be late, he didn't care too much.

"Be back before midnight" Hiro called back to her as he took a detoured route out the school.

"It seems that your friend" Asura disappeared from behind Cali and appeared before her "doesn't like me."

Cali raised a brow at the man "I've never heard you complain about that" she remembered the very first time she had seen him. Of course she was young and didn't know at the time the image she hallucinated was the Kishin, Asura.

"Just join the madness" the subject was changed without him finishing the previous conversation. Asura grinned, displaying his teeth as he tapped his chin with his fingers "much easier than this" he said with a cross between a giggle and a chuckle. "Much easier, _much._ "

Cali waved the image away from before her and continued down the hall, ignoring the odd stares she gained every once in a while. "Easy had never been my style" she shrugged.

At this, Asura laughed, wheezingly, as he floated beside her "liar, _liar,_ liar" his bandages/scarves opened to reveal his face. "You let go when fighting Giriko, and when fighting for...Brew" he pointed out.

Cali frowned "no need to point that out" she shook her head "plus, Arachne scared me."

"You let go when you're scared"

"or excited"

"Then let go. It's not fun" he paused to take in a raspy breath "to be bound, is it?" he asked "the darkness, you're still afraid, no?"

"And you're still sore about what Lord Death did to you, no?" she hissed back. Before she could blink, one of the many scarves around him wrapped itself around Cali's neck and lifted her up into the air.

"What that old man did, is more than a scar!" Asura yelled angrily as he violently shook her around. His hand clenched his chest, this Cali didn't ignore. She still hadn't figured out if these images of Asura were just hallucinations she had created, or whether or not she was actually meeting the Kishin. For a long time, as a child, she had figured Asura was an imaginary friend and currently she doubted she was anywhere close to his wavelength.

Suddenly the hold on Cali loosened and she was brought down carefully, almost like a fragile doll. Cali rubbed the area where she was held from and involuntarily winced. "You're hurt" Asura backed away as if afraid.

"So what, I stub my toe on inanimate objects every other day" she coughed and turned around, heading back out the door. However it seemed as if the current hall way would never end. The walls were covered with a, reddish black, tar-like substance while the doors glowed an eerie red. "Hiro, wants me back by midnight at the latest" she looked to the clock, which had stopped moving at 11:59. Slowly the clock hand started to move back.

"Lots of time, plenty of time" Asura came back.

"Later" Cali shook her head before feeling a falling sensation.

"Whoops!" Cali looked up, Justin was holding onto her hand from over the balcony. The blond helped her back up, not really wanting to ask what had happened. During her hallucinations with Asura, it seemed she had been walking along dangerous pathways that could easily get her killed. She wondered if Asura was just angry with her for bailing out early, but shook it off. For now, she would continue to believe her exchanges with the Kishin were just images she created in her mind.

"What time is it?" Cali asked as she brushed some invisible dirt from her clothes.

"10:13, I was taking a walk when I found you standing on this balcony" Justin answered with a small frown.

Cali looked to her feet and ran a hand through her reddish brown hair "he was right, I did have plenty of time."

Justin watched as she unsteadily walked in the direction of her hotel "do you want help?" he asked, starting to wonder if she had been drinking as a minor. Cali nodded. However when Justin got closer, to steady her on her feet, she had no smell of any alcohol.

"Thanks, and I haven't been drinking or doing anything too stupid if you were wondering" she leaned against him. "I just let my mind wander, talking with an old friend" she shrugged lazily.

"I don't understand you two" Justin shook his head slowly, he hadn't seen Cali with anyone while she was walking around Death City. Sometimes he had seen Hiro wave his hand in the air as if he was swatting a fly.

"To understand us" Cali stopped walking "you have to fall to our level but..." she looked up from the ground and to the blond with a quick smile "I don't recommend it." They walked in silence for a while before Cali asked "are you going to continue the search for Asura?" Justin hesitated to answer, on any other day Cali probably would have shoved him in the side before leaving but decided that she seemed too down to try anything.

So he nodded "I will for God has asked me to be his legs. I'll be leaving again tomorrow morning." He had no reason to hide his plans from Cali.

"Then..." Cali fell silent. Had she not been walking, Justin would have thought her to have fallen asleep. "Stay safe" she finally said looking to the moon "the world is starting to fill more and more with Insanity. It's obvious that things are progressing much faster than Stein expected."

Justin had finally brought Cali back to the Hotel before leaving, wondering if there was another way to understand the pair, without falling to Madness.

As he had said, Justin had left Death City, early in the morning, waking up almost half the city with his dune buggy and speakers. Cali was still asleep at the time while Hiro had started packing their things. The morning was a normal one, however, from that day, Stein no longer showed up to classes, and instead Marie substituted for his regular classes while Cali and Hiro took care of his Duel Arts classes.

"Yo Marie!" Cali entered the washroom "Good morning Supervisor Azusa" she bowed at the East Asian head.

"Good morning to you too" the Death Scythes greeted her. "How are the Duel Arts classes going?" Azusa asked as she fixed her shirt and started washing her hands.

"Good, the students are catching on quicker" Cali nodded as she brushed her hair. Hiro had dragged her out of bed and so she hadn't really had time to get ready. "I think that they are starting to get more motivated and much more focused...since BREW." They fell silent.

"How is Stein's condition?" Azusa asked, breaking the silence.

"He's calm periodically, however, we can never tell when the next fit of insanity will be coming" Marie sighed looking down.

"It could be that Stein's collapse may be connected to a spy in Shibusen." Azusa fixed her glasses.

"They're starting Internal Investigation this afternoon." Cali splashed water on her face, it had been almost a week since she had talked with the Reaper on Stein's condition, and it seemed that it hadn't gotten any better. "With Stein, the best meister down, Shibusen really took a blow to the side."

"Internal Investigations?" Marie asked.

"Were you not told?" Cali cocked her head to the side. She saw Azusa making large x's over her head but ignored it, wondering if her Supervisor was ok, mentally. "Joe Buttataki got in last night." At this, Azusa face palmed and Marie, rather than turning the tap off, turned it on full force, drenching both Azusa and Cali.

"H-how long have you two known?" Marie asked as she quickly turned off the tap and rummaged through her make-up case.

"Since five days ago" Cali answered, plucking the wet shirt from her body.

"Tell me these things sooner" she then pulled out mascara and started to apply it.

"What are you doing all of a sudden?" Azusa asked, wondering why she seemed so interested now.

"R-right" Cali looked to Azusa "What happened between them?"

"They're ex's" Not wanting to get any further into the conversation, Cali waved to the older women and left the bathroom with a large sigh. She hoped she would run into Hiro, before anyone else.

"Whoa, what happened Miss Cali?" Ox and Harvar came up and asked.

"Ask and I'll smash you into a wall" she growled but lightened up when she saw a familiar head of white hair in the door way of Class Crescent Moon. "Hiro!"

"What is, what happened?" he asked, School had yet to start so no-one was inside yet.

"Marie, ex-boyfriend, Sandals and Shorts" she sighed, cursing the only day she decided to wear white. "Hiro, take off your shirt" she tugged on the end of his blue and black shirt "I'm wearing it." Hiro stared at her, wondering if she was serious and sighed as he gave in and started to take off his shirt. As he did, Cali too off her own, laying it down on the closest bench so it could dry.

"Good morning" Maka and Soul entered the classroom, along with Black Star and Tsubaki.

"Morning" Cali waved, not at all bothered with the fact that both she and Hiro were shirtless.

"I think we were interrupting" Maka turned around.

"No you weren't" Cali pulled on Hiro's shirt before pointing to her own, 'Constantinople, not Istanbul' shirt. Lying on the bench. "Let's just say I got mixed up in a relationship conversation." Maka and her friends wondered how one could get soaked with water in such a conversation but decided not to ask. Apparently when they had passed by Ox and Harvar, who had asked, she had threatened to hurt them, very badly.

"The second your shirt dries, I want mine back" Hiro shook his head. Sure he was willing to do anything for Cali, but sometimes he wondered if he should limit it. Slowly the class started to fill up with students. Mornings were usually Gym so Cali quickly took attendance and shooed everyone out so they could get changed. Today, she was going to teach the class on fighting opponents that were stronger and of many numbers.

"Hiro?" she looked up at the white haired teen. "Thanks"

"Why do we have to come in the morning?" Cali yawned for she had been having a very good dream about the world being smothered by Insanity so that she didn't have to pretend to be sane, so that she could go back to her father.

"I don't know" Hiro yawned too, after seeing Cali, and scratched the back of his head. "Maybe this is payback for what you made the students do yesterday" he thought, remembering how Cali had worked the students to the bone in fighting skills.

"With Arachne having BREW and with the Kishin getting stronger every day, it's necessary they should learn that" Cali crossed her arms and looked away. Hiro rolled his eyes and hugged Cali from the side.

"You're here" Spirit waved the two over to the room that was being used by JB to conduct investigations.

Cali glared at the red head "and I wish I wasn't" she hissed.

At the voice, Joe stuck his head out the door and immediately his face fell. "Oh you two."

"Morning Sandles and Shorts" Hiro greeted happily.

"They're fine" JB frowned before closing the door.

At this, Cali growled as she kicked at the air, being held back by Hiro and Spirit, as she spat curses and hate at the door JB was behind. "What's the point in calling us out in the morning then you bastard!" she saw the image of Asura standing by the door "Kick it down and drag him out!" she yelled angrily as Asura looked at her, grinned his toothy grin and ignored her cries. "Traitor!"

"Sorry sorry, we can get the questioning done later then" Spirit, with the help of Hiro, dragged Cali out the hall.

"Sorry but I don't think Cali or I will be coming in to teach" Hiro apologized, not really sorry. In fact, he too wanted to bust down JB's door but knew that if he and Cali did do that, it would take time out from their sleep, and he wanted his sleep for he had been rudely awakened just when he was able to fall asleep. For several days, after having had that talk with Justin back at Lost Island, he had had the reoccurring dream of Justin stealing Cali away. Which always ended up with them dying in the Kishin's hands.

"Name?" JB asked sitting before Cali who had the most annoyed look on her face. Which wasn't surprising. Yesterday she had been woken up at dawn and now it was late and she was being questioned.

"Cali"

"Name?"

" _Cali_ "

Joe looked up from the clip board. " _Name?_ " he asked, he hoped Hiro would be better than Cali's current mood though he doubted it.

"Callisto Abbey... _happy now?_ " she asked rolling her eyes. She was tired and grumpy. She had gotten plenty of rest the day before, as neither she nor Hiro went to school, however, when they got to school that morning, the students started to ask her questions about why she or Kid hadn't come in yesterday. It seemed that even Marie had been late coming in.

"Yes, look, I want to finish this quickly as well. I'm having dinner with Marie later." he sighed.

"Fine" Cali didn't like JB, but, she liked Marie enough and didn't want to make her wait for Joe, because she was being bratty.

"What is your occupation?"

"Shibusen Demon Weapon Meister, student teacher, taking care of Stein's kids in Duel Arts. Partner is Hiro." Joe nodded.

"Well then" he looked up from the clip board "are you a spy?" he asked.

"No" Cali answered immediately, she wasn't nervous for she had no reason to be. Though she didn't like JB, she completely trusted his abilities and trusted that he was able to keep work and personal matters separate.

"I hear you have Arachnophobia" Joe started as he looked at her file and pulled out a rubber spider from his pocket. Immediately Cali ran to the far corner of the room and curled up into a ball. JB scratched his cheek, it was probably the most extreme cases of Arachnophobia he had ever seen.

"I hate you so much Sandals and Shorts. Shoo, get away from me" Cali hissed kicking her leg out at Joe before curling back up.

"Well, I can guess by your reactions that you would be too scared to form an alliance with Arachne" JB stuffed the spider back into his pocket. "Ok it's gone."

Cali turned her head and growled "Spirit, can't you throw that thing out or something?" she asked. The Death Scythe only nodded and took the toy from JB before opening the door and throwing it out. He had seen her when Cali first came to Death City, preferring to sit in a lighted room with no windows for days on end. Though Shibusen had been able to help her rid herself of most of her fears, Arachnophobia was not one of them.

"Back to the questioning" Cali nodded, walking back calmly and sitting down on the chair. "Do you have any reason to suspect that Stein is a traitor?" Joe asked.

Cali shook her head "if you mean do I think his fall to madness is because he decided to go against Shibusen, then no. Marie had been with him when he got worse, so I doubt it. If he wanted to become a traitor, he would do it when Marie wasn't here."

"Excuse me" Joe placed a fist to the middle of her chest. "Are you a spy?" he asked once more.

"Hell no" Cali frowned.

"Well then...Thank you" JB stood up and shook his head to Spirit.

Cali was then escorted out but not before she gave him the warning "Don't ask Hiro for his real name. He doesn't like it and will only tell it to people he wants to trust, or wants to tell..." Though Joe nodded, it was his job to finish the investigations smoothly and he had to ask for the name.

"Did Cali give you a hard time?" Hiro asked as he walked in.

"No-" before Joe could finish Hiro grabbed his neck squeezing it.

"Cali hates spiders, you pull another stunt like that again and Shibusen will be down one, or two, very important allies" he hissed, eyes already the trademark Star Clan pupils before calming down and ending in a light, airy tone "and since neither of us wants that, let's not try it again, no?" he smiled and sat down before Joe, who was rubbing his neck. "Don't worry, you're not going to bruise for your date tonight." he added.

JB let out a large sigh "then let's get started...Name"

"Hiro-"

"I don't want to go through this again, _Name_ "

"Didn't Cali warn you?" Hiro asked with a dark chuckle "My name is Hiro, from the notorious Star Clan, based in Hokkaido. I am Demon Weapon to Cali and currently working at Shibusen as student teacher for Stein in Duel Arts"

"How many people know your real name?" Joe asked.

"Cali, Me, Lord Death, Justin Law, Azusa" he counted the people on his hand. "Five people including myself." he replied.

"Justin?" Joe asked.

"Problem?"

"No. You are aware Cali has Arachnophobia, any chances you think she is pretending?" he asked.

"She's not pretending. While in Resonance I could feel how scared she was when she was looking at Arachne the Spider Witch. Not to mention, I have to keep the house free from Spiders or else she calls on me every time she finds one." Hiro then rubbed his face "she left a tap running for about an hour because there was a spider in the washroom and I was out buying groceries"

"R-right" JB nodded "I heard from Senpai…Spirit here that Cali had disappeared between 9PM to a little after 2AM a couple days or so ago. Do you know where she went?"

"No, but I trust that she isn't a spy, for anyone." Hiro frowned. He didn't like the way JB was questioning them. He knew it was only JB's job, yet, being questioned like this, was agitating.

"Last question" Joe placed his fist to Hiro's chest "are you a spy?"

"No"

"That's all" JB shook his head at Spirit. "I have dinner with Marie so I'll be going now" Joe stood up, handed Spirit the clipboard and left.

"Hiro, Cali, go home and sleep. School will still start at regular times tomorrow" Spirit waved the meister and weapon off before looking back down to the clip board. There was a note attached to the top page. "-Watch out for Cali, she is worried about something- p.s.: Shibusen really needs better coffee. I suggest Mandheling-"

Spirit cocked his head to the side and scratched it. "Mandheling...Mandolin?"

"Cali, can I ask you something?" Hiro asked when they had gotten back to their apartment.

"Shoot"

"Where did you go that day before Brew? You were gone for almost five hours" he asked opening the door and turning on the lights. Cali scratched her head and thought about it for a while.

She sighed when she realized she couldn't hide too much "first of all, I don't know where I had gone, but I think I stayed at the park since when I snapped out of it, I was there. And second of all, I was talking with, probably my imagination of, Asura. Any ways, hallucination or not, I can't let Shibusen find out" Hiro nodded and smiled a little, glad that Cali had told him. He understood why she had kept it from him until he asked, if Shibusen were to find out, she had a 50/50 chance of being thrown out or placed in solitary confinement.

"Thanks, Good night" he gave her a quick peck on the forehead before entering his room.

It was around one in the morning when Spirit, along with Sid, banged on Cali and Hiro's apartment door. "Open up" the red headed Death Scythe ordered. It had been a tiring night, and he really didn't want to involve Cali or Hiro as they were still kids to him. However he had to check whether or not Cali or Hiro, had left the house, especially due to the warning note JB had handed him before his passing.

"Shut up, shit head" it was Hiro. The sleepy teen opened the door "what the hell?" he asked scratching his stomach.

"Where's Cali?" Spirit asked not seeing her anywhere.

"Inside her pleasant dream world" Hiro answered with a low growl.

"Can we come in?" Sid asked.

"No, it's one in the morning, we're all tired, can't this wait till tomorrow?" Hiro was about to close the door when Spirit stopped him by placing his foot just inside the door.

"No, it's JB"

"Did he get dumped again or something?" Hiro snickered.

"He's dead" at this, Hiro woke up, and tore through the apartment to Cali's door, opening it without knocking.

" _She's sleeping_ " he saw the image of Asura sitting on the bed, Cali's head on his lap. Cali herself looked peaceful. "In a world where she can live with her father"

"Shut it" Hiro pointed at Asura. Spirit and Sid, who had entered when Hiro started to run, exchanged looks, since to them, Hiro was either talking to the poster above Cali's bed, or the pillow. "Cali, wake up" Hiro gently shook her shoulder. "JB, he's dead."

"Who's dead?" Cali mumbled as she sat up, slowly.

"JB, Sandals and Shorts as you usually call him" this time it was Spirit who answered. Cali paled when she saw Spirit and Sid. _Did they suspect her? No shit they did._ Cali looked at them, looking for a way to escape if need be.

"We don't suspect you, for now." Spirit shook his head "We found Stein's cigarettes at the scene of the crime but I don't think Stein did it, neither of us do."

"No, in fact we just thought we would let you two know. We think someone framed Stein, and they might also be after you." Sid explained. "We're going to try to get Stein out of Death City, hopefully he can find JB's Killer."

"Convince Marie to go with him. Stein isn't stable enough to go anywhere alone." Cali rubbed her face and coughed. "What do I tell the students when neither of them come in the morning?" she asked.

"You can figure that out later" Spirit nodded to Hiro and left with Sid "we'll lock the door on our way out" he called before leaving.

Cali sighed and leaned against Hiro. "Insanity is swirling around Death City" she spoke softly. News of death, never did anyone good, no matter how insane, or how much they hated the deceased. "They probably killed him for the same reason we hated him." Cali looked up at Hiro.

"Advanced Soul Perception."


	8. Chapter 8: Missing Curiosity Madness

All canon characters © Okubo Atsushi

 **Consumption**

 **Chapter 8**

 _ **Missing Curiosity Madness**_

"And that's all for now." Hiro closed the book in his hand and looked to the students who were now packing up. Science and Math was his forte, for Cali it was Languages. "Your extra-curricular lessons start in two days, you might not be studying in class but make sure to review your notes. I might just pop a surprise test when you guys get back." The class groaned audibly as their packing up got slower. Cali snickered silently from where she sat, she knew Hiro wasn't really going to give them a surprise test.

"Miss Cali, Mr. Hiro" Maka walked up to them with Soul, Kid and the Thomson Sisters.

"Hm?" Cali placed her feet on the ground from where she had it leaned up against the desk. "What is it Maka?" she asked with a smile, whenever Maka asked a question, it was always a good one.

"Where is Black Star and Tsubaki? And Professor Stein and Miss Marie?" she paused for a second before adding "And Crona?"

Cali frowned "Black Star and Tsubaki, went to Japan to visit Tsubaki's family...Stein and Marie...well let's just say that they're on vacation. Crona, I'm sure also went home."

"To Medusa" Maka hissed angrily. The anger was clear in her eyes. Hiro walked over with his books and exchanged a look with Cali, they could probably guess where this was going to go. "Miss Cali, please, tell me more about witches" Maka started but was cut off by Cali standing up.

"I'm not saying this to be mean, but because I sincerely care about your well-being" Cali started kindly before quickly changing her tone. "Drop it" Cali looked over the others with hard eyes "don't pursue it now, in your current state, anti-demon wavelength or not, you will be consumed by madness" she turned and lightly slapped Hiro in the shoulder. "To Lord Death" she said to Hiro before turning to Maka "when you calm down enough to fight without having to take your emotions into account, ask me. Other than that don't ask me, ask someone else, for I will give you the unbridled truth."

Maka let out an inward scream of frustration as she kicked the benches.

"That was a little harsh, don't you think?" Hiro asked as they walked down the halls to the Death Room.

"Hiro, if Crona comes back, she will be placed in confinement, even if she is innocent. And if she isn't, she will be placed on Death row for treason and association with a Witch, especially since it is Medusa, the one who revived the Kishin. Unless Lord Death is feeling unusually lenient" Cali shook her head. "It's better for both of them that Crona never comes back, and that they never meet."

"I guess their only hope is that Crona will only be exiled or asked to defect based on Lord Death's mood" Hiro scratched his head in frustration as he remembered what Cali had told him last night as the answer to his question. He had to make sure that no-one else ever knew about Cali's _talks_ with Asura, or at least, her hallucinations.

Like always, they didn't knock when they entered the Death Room, and ignored the way the guillotines seemed to swing around overhead.

"Good Afternoon Lord Death" Cali bowed when she saw the Reaper and Spirit, along with Nygus and Sid standing by the mirror. Hiro waved with a smile. "What are we here for?" she asked.

"First of all, I'm sure you all know of Stein and Marie's absence" he started off lightly, "as well as the disappearance of Crona, the trial period Student." Everyone nodded and the Reaper clapped his large hands together. "Anyone have any ideas as to where they are?"

"Last night, we failed to capture Stein and he took Marie with him and left" Spirit explained. Everyone nodded, Cali and Hiro staring at them strangely.

"If you two haven't heard, JB is dead" Spirit spoke mildly.

Cali whistled "well, why Stein?"

"His cigarettes were found at the crime scene" Spirit answered. Cali nodded pretending to have heard this for the first time.

"JB, before his death, found something in Marie. We can guess that the missing trial student was the spy" Spirit deducted. Cali frowned remembering how Maka looked, both angry and sad at the fact that her new found friend was gone, taken away by a long gone ghost named Medusa.

"Well then since Azusa is busy, Cali and Hiro, I have a mission for you" Death seemed to be satisfied with the current answers he was given, though he knew that half of what was being said was probably a lie. Cali and Hiro nodded "there has been some incidents up in the Himalayan Mountains which makes up part of the border of Nepal and Tibet. Frequent avalanches that are reaching into towns, as well as trees and plants growing in odd angles and shapes. Cali and Hiro, I want you two to investigate this."

"Yes sir" Cali nodded. She wondered why the Himalayan mountains. It also made sense that this normally would be a job for Azusa as she could use her clairvoyant abilities to scout the land.

"She has given us the OK to use the others at the East Asian Branch, Azusa did" the Reaper added lightly.

"And so we're here, stuck in the middle of a snow storm, out in nowhere" Hiro looked out from the cave they had found out of pure luck. Cali had already made several fires near the mouth of the cave, allowing the inside to be, slightly warmer. Behind them were two squads of eight, four meisters and four weapons, huddled together for warmth.

"OK, who was the genius who forgot the maps, radios and whistles?" Cali asked once she finished lighting the fires. She thanked whoever was out there that she had remembered to bring her emergency kit just before leaving. No one answered "Well?"

"That was Gretchen...the one who was carried away on that last Avalanche" one of the meisters explained.

"Sucks for her" Cali growled. She knew that snow storms, of the current caliber, were not normal around this time of the year, this she knew because many mountaineers usually attempted the summit around now.

Hiro walked over to his and Cali's bag and spilled their contents to the floor. "This food should easily last you all two weeks" he started "ration it out carefully, a month before you all start to rip at each other's limbs." He pulled out the small day packs which were attached to the front of the hiking bags and put in three cans of small two serving soup, a half box of crackers, and several chocolate and protein bars. "This should keep Cali and I going for a week." he then placed a small camp stove, a small pot and two spoons into Cali's bag. "I trust that you all have your own food as well." Hiro checked his straps before checking Cali's. "The storm won't last for more than two weeks, I doubt it will go over one, but still. You all stay here, Cali and I will continue the search on our own. The second you can, go down back to the villiage."

"But" a weapon asked.

"No buts, or we use you as bait for bears or the Yeti or something" Cali threatened.

"Shibusen stay together."

"Fine, you guys can stay together. We're not really Shibusen" Hiro shrugged before pocketing several books of matches into the waterproof inner pocket. "Ready?" he asked Cali who nodded. They put on their goggles and entered the Snow storm. Letting their internal Madness Radar, lead them to the source of the madness that was around them.

"You know, this madness feels a bit like the Kishin" Hiro yelled against the wind when they were half a mile or so away from the cave.

"I thought so!" Cali yelled back. They had to admit, it was freezing, even for Hiro.

For the night, or what they guessed was the night, they slept under bushes, careful to use the stove fire and used the snow from the mountain as water. They planned to go farther and sleep less, as well as to fight back hunger by eating snow when they had to as they didn't want to use their food right away. By the third day, they were faced with a challenge. A cliff climb.

"Hiro, Grappling." Cali breathed out, her breath was a cloud in the, oddly clear, moment. They guessed it was dawn, as the sun was in the east. "Let's get up this while it's still clear" Cali narrowed her eyes onto one of the many ice picks in the cliff wall, left by other mountaineers in the past, and aimed. Hiro grabbed onto it with his hand and went into human form before turning his other hand into a grappling hook and throwing it to the next ice pick or nail he saw. He did this several times, when he got tired, he would tie himself to the nail and would hang there as a grappling hook and rope for a couple minutes before continuing. By the end of a long hour, Hiro finally got to the top and let down one hand as rope while his other hand grabbed onto the base of a tree as a grappling hook and rope.

"Grab on" Hiro yelled though doubted that Cali could hear his voice.

Down below, Cali wrapped the rope around her waist and tied it before tugging at him. She didn't know, once off the ground, how far up she was, Hiro was obviously dragging her up, though she was climbing a little to get up faster. By the end of another hour and half, the storm had picked up again. Cali gripped the rope tightly as the wind tried to throw her off the cliff face. The last stretch took longer, due to the wind, but Cali safely, minus several bruises, climbed up the cliff. Though they were both tired, they quickly made their way into the nearest bush to rest and catch their breath before continuing on their hunt.

"The Madness is getting closer" Cali shivered, she didn't know if it was from the cold, or from the feeling she felt, as if she was being watched.

"You mean, we're getting closer to the Madness" Hiro corrected.

Cali rolled her eyes "anyways, let's rest for a second before continuing." It was still light out, and judging by the position of the sun, they guessed it to be around 2 in the afternoon.

Hiro snickered "a second has already passed~" he sang as the storm had stopped half an hour before and he was feeling just a bit happier. Cali growled and narrowed her eyes at him. She didn't guess them to be too high up, as she wasn't feeling any trouble breathing.

"Then you go on ahead" Cali sat down on a rock.

"Sorry sorry, joking..." Hiro laughed "and shut-ing up" he made a motion of zippering his mouth and locking it before throwing out the key. They waited, having lunch of half a chocolate bar and three crackers each. When the sun had passed the three hour point, the two continued to trek up, feeling the Insanity growing with each step.

By night fall, they had finally reached what looked like an old red temple.

"Well, this certainly reeks of Asura" Hiro commented on the level of insanity he felt from the open doors of the temple or mansion. It seemed that it was either a long time temple to worship the Kishin, or a long time forgotten Buddhist temple that had been turned strange due to the madness of Asura. They looked in, but the failing light didn't help much.

"How about we come back in the morning?" Cali suggested "when we can see where we're putting our feet." Hiro only nodded silently, he too wasn't too keen on walking into the Kishin's lair when they could hardly see a foot in front of them. Finding a suitable place to sleep, they waited for the night to pass and for the Sun to come back up into the sky. The two took turns sleeping as they couldn't fully trust sleeping near the ruin temple.

The sun slowly rose, bringing its tired face over the horizon, and bathing their surroundings with a lazy red light. Cali stood up as well as Hiro, ready make their one hour climb back up to the Temple.

"You know" Asura's image floated around Cali as they entered the darker Temple. "Someone very close to you" the image disappeared for a second before reappearing behind her, holding her back from walking any further in "Is lost in madness." Then Asura laughed as if it was the funniest thing he had heard since having been revived.

Cali looked at Asura and turned away. _Father? No not too close with him. Hiro is already insane._ Cali thought before thinking of Marie _but her wavelength would stop her._ She stopped thinking when she noticed a pile of scarves on the floor around her.

"H-Hiro!"

"So, you found where Asura had been hiding out, but he's not there anymore?" the Reaper scratched his head and sighed. He guessed that Asura had been gone since two or three weeks before, as that was when the incidents started to happen. "So, what do you think about this place?" Death asked "or do you have any clues as to where Asura is, or who it was that convinced him to leave?"

"First of all, before the other's came" Cali showed Death the number of East Asian branch members picking away at the things inside the building. Cali then turned the mirror back to her and coughed into her sleeve due to the dust "Hiro and I guessed it as some old temple to worship the Kishin or a long forgotten Buddhist temple that was changed due to madness." Death nodded. "Not to mention there are some signs of battle, so I guess who ever it was got quite a beating from Asura to convince him to leave this...er...dark hole, temple, room thing." Cali looked around. She wasn't too much of a historian or an architect to know where she was currently standing.

"So you don't think he left on his own accord?" Death asked, wondering who it was that had been able to convince the coward Asura to leave where he had felt safe and comfortable.

"Yes, some one strong..." Cali scratched her head.

"Spider witch" Asura breathed in her ear.

"A-Arachne th-the Spider Witch" Cali struggled to choke out in fear.

Death was silent for a while before "Oh dear" the placed a large hand to his 'chin' and supported the raised one with his other hand, like a thinking position.

"What is it tarp face?" Hiro asked.

"The Kids just left this morning to Arachne's nest with Medusa." at the reaper's confession, Cali groaned aloud.

"Medusa of all witches?"

"Yes, she handed to us the _real_ BREW which she had taken before we or Arachne could." Death answered "so I thought we would be able to trust her enough to lead this operation."

"You know what?" Cali asked "Hiro and I will leave from the closest city with an airport today, or tomorrow, depending on the time we have to make if back down. And until then, no more stupid missions to children" Cali closed off before the reaper could speak up and turned to the squad currently doing clean up.

"Lock the doors, seal it with whatever you can. Stop any bit of insanity from leaking through." she then turned to Hiro "we're going home."

"Aiya" the reaper scratched his head. "I just got scolded by Cali for sending the kids on this mission."

Spirit shook his head. Even though he too couldn't trust Medusa with his daughter, he also trusted that Maka had the strength to fight. "When do you think those two will be back Lord Death?" he asked.

"Tomorrow night or the next morning I would think" the reaper walked back to the skull mask table and sipped tea as did Spirit. At the end of their quite lengthy sip, they place their cups down and sighed together. It really was a hectic week.


	9. Chapter 9: Decent

All canon characters © Okubo Atsushi

 **Consumption**

 **Chapter 9**

 _ **Decent**_

Cali, Hiro and Spirit stood at the front of the school, waiting for the students to arrive. It was planned for them to arrive that afternoon, however Cali was doubtful. One could never trust a witch too much. The afternoon started into the evening when the Shibusen students arrived. Bringing with them a small, young witch and a man in a white long sleeved shirt and jeans with a bunch of Katana by his side.

Hiro guessed this man to be Mifune, the one who had injured Sid.

Cali was the first to run over, looking over them, searching for any signs of insanity. When she was satisfied she laughed and sat down on the ground. "Where is the Snake Mistress Medusa?" she asked.

Maka rubbed her upper arm "Medusa took over Arachne's body when Arachne abandoned it" she explained. Cali nodded. "We also met the Death Scythe Tezca Tlipoca." she added.

"Oh, him" Cali looked away, not too interested in the chief of the South America division. Spirit was already leading Mifune and Black Star, the two being the most injured, back inside. "Well, go in, report to Lord Death and, we're all glad you guys came home safely."

Hiro and Cali watched as the students entered, those not too injured were headed to the Death Room to report. "That was pretty uncharacteristic of you" Hiro referred back to when Cali had been worried openly. "You're usually not too worried about things, or if you are, you don't show it."

"It's just that, with BJ gone, Maka's Anti-demon wavelength and advanced soul perception will be the most lethal things to the Kishin. Maka will undoubtedly become the next target." Cali explained. Hiro nodded, the reason did sound legit enough to him. "No doubt, Maka will become one of the few that will lead the battle against Asura."

Hiro squinted up at the red light the sun was emitting. "I guess this battle against Arachne, was our first victory in this war." For just a few moments, the sun and moon were both in the sky, the sun's rays seemed to dye the moon a bloody red. If the two were big on omens, they would have taken this as a warning. A warning of the news of betrayal and a big battle.

"And let us hope that this war ends soon" Cali added as she turned to head back, coughing and sneezing.

Hiro looked at his partner, wanting to tell Cali to visit the Dispensary for a check-up, as they missed the one yesterday, for anything they might have gotten or caught during their trek. Of course, when he first suggested it, Cali had tried to kick him in the shin for thinking, not of the Students, but now, since the students were back, he wondered if he should risk asking, or suggesting, it again.

"Dispensary?" Hiro asked.

"What, wanna talk with the Star Clan kid?" Cali raised a brow. Hiro nodded, thought it was a lie, hopefully Nygus could convince Cali to take some cold medicine.

"- the big and mighty me is fine! I …." the rest seemed to be choked off with throaty noises and the sound of gurgling.

"You sure you want to visit?"

"No" Hiro shook his head but still opened the door. It seemed that Patty was poking Black Star's wounds, which led him to faint from the pain. Beside Black Star's bed, which was surrounded by Kid, the Thomson Sisters and Soul, apparently Maka and Ox went to report alone, was the samurai Mifune, the little witch and Tsubaki by his bed as he read a book.

"Finally come for your check up?" Nygus asked coming out from the back with a clip board.

"We're here so why not." Hiro shrugged. Cali wondered why her partner seemed so happy but shrugged it off, sometimes she didn't understand him.

"Then I'll go first, you er...talk with the kid, if you can" Cali pointed to Black Star before following Nygus around the curtains.

"White Star?" Mifune asked looking up from his book. Hiro turned to look at the samurai and nodded to Tsubaki and the little witch, silently telling them to let himself and Mifune talk alone. When Tsubaki and Angela left the place around Mifune's bed, Hiro closed the curtains and tied the string. It wasn't much, but the curtains gave them some bit of privacy, as well as muffled their voices. "He's dead though" Mifune knitted his brows together.

"Uncle, he's my uncle. My dad, Morning Star, impregnated a woman from a Weapon family and I was brought into this world." Hiro explained, his blue eyes steadied on Mifune's, seeing the same battle hardened gaze he had seen in many before Shibusen wiped out the Star Clan. However Hiro noticed that Mifune's eyes shone, not in murderous light, but in a fiercer protective light. "You're a good person."

"Even if I say I killed Morning Star?" asked Mifune.

"I don't care too much about that. All he gave me was the name Hoshi no Yami, or Yami Hoshi before leaving" Hiro scratched the back of his head. "All the mumbo jumbo, 'you were given the name Hoshi no Yami so you could become the darkness of the clan' or something like that."

Mifune nodded and turned back to his book. "Why do you fight?" he asked turning a page.

"To protect Cali...er..or maybe to stay with her?" Hiro crossed his arms "I don't care too much on glory, and I grew out of my 'I wanna be a Hero' phase" he smiled slowly, oddly enough, it was nice to talk to Mifune, someone he felt he could trust from the second they met. "And you, why do you fight?"

Mifune rested his hand on the next page, "for the children" he mumbled and turned the page.

"Do you have kids?" it was an innocent question but the poor samurai blushed at it.

"N-no" he muttered out.

Hiro grinned "well, don't worry, there are plenty of young students here. And I'm sure that Lord Death wouldn't mind you becoming a teacher here." Hiro leaned back, forgetting that it was just a stool, and crashed to the floor. "I'm fine" he said immediately though he curled up to cradle what felt like a growing bump on his head. Mifune watched in awkward silence as Hiro rolled around on the floor. He wondered when he could get out for he needed to take Angela and leave Shibusen, after all, Angela, as small and young as she was, was still a witch.

"Hiro what are you doing?" Cali asked walking in. She looked at Mifune who was still sitting calmly on the bed, reading and decided that Mifune didn't hit him.

"I'm looking for something on the ground?" he tried, knowing that Cali would laugh if he told her the real reason.

Cali shook her head, looking both amused and disappointed at the same time. "You fell off since you forgot there was no back...on a stool" she chuckled lowly. "Time for your check-up" she pointed her thumb outside the curtains.

"And you?" Hiro asked once he had stood up and smoothed out his clothes, brushing off any dirt.

"Fit as a fiddle, but just in case, she gave me this to take for the night." Hiro smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Right, pray I don't have something weird"

"You're studier than I am, you won't." Cali laughed when Hiro brushed his lips against her forehead and left.

Mifune raised a brow when Cali sat down on the stool Hiro had just fallen off of. "Yes?" he asked, flipping to a new page.

"You came with the Little Witch An, didn't you?" she asked getting to the subject. Mifune closed his book, after marking his spot, and looked up, ready to attack if he had to. "Let me just tell you out right, I hate Witches, young, old, weak, strong. It doesn't matter." Mifune glared. "But don't get me wrong, I'm not here to hurt you or little An"

"Then what is it?" he asked, not letting his guard down.

"What is it like, a neutral witch?" she asked, raising her feet up onto Mifune's bed. "I've always been around malicious witches, hell bent on killing, destruction and world dominance."

Mifune glared, he didn't quite understand what she meant "Are you a witch?" he asked.

Cali chuckled "Mother was, I'm not. So, I hear you're protecting Little An until she can fend for herself?" Mifune nodded "kind soul, be proud that Hiro told you his real name, you're the only other person who was told on the very first meeting. With you, only five other people know, excluding Hiro himself."

"who's the other person, who was told of his name on the first meet?" he asked, slightly curious.

"Me" Cali pointed to herself. "Shibusen thought he was a mute after experiencing the shock of watching his clan members get killed before his very eyes." she chuckled.

"Do you care for him?" Mifune asked, he thought Cali's behavior was strange. She seemed to be talking all over the place.

"Sure, he's my best friend, partner and weapon. I trust him with my life and I would give my life for him" Cali frowned though her tone was airy.

"I'm sure you are already aware of his-"

"Feelings..." Cali's eyes darkened, conflicting emotions were clearly visible. "I know, but I can't. So he's just a friend, nothing more. So...rest up, Lord Death will most likely let Little An stay, and let you become a teacher. We don't find many strong and kind souls as you" Cali stood up just as Hiro opened the curtains.

"Lord Death wants to see us." Hiro looked between Cali and Mifune. He was sure some sort of exchange went past them, but wasn't sure what, but judging by the way they didn't seem to be too worked up about their conversation, he doubted it was anything major. "I'm not sure what the meeting is about, but, he said that you and I could not miss it. Azusa was also called over.

Cali nodded and together, they left the Dispensary in silence. Hiro remembered the oddly stern way the Reaper had summoned him and Cali and hoped that Death was only kidding. It seemed to him that the reason for the summons were not for any good news or reasons.

"Come on" Cali opened a window, directly below the Hall that led to the Death Room. "Grappling hook" she held Hiro's hand so he could transform. Cali had guessed by the look on Hiro's face that the reason they had been called on was not good. The faster they get there, the better. Cali quickly climbed up the outer wall and entered the hall, just as Stein and Marie were opening the door to the Death Room.

"You're back!" Hiro exclaimed surprised at the fact that they came back so fast. "Did you find BJ's murderer?" he asked as he and Cali followed the pair inside. Marie nodded though Stein only stared ahead. Neither could look at the two teens, and their seriousness was slightly uncomforting to both Cali and Hiro.

"We'll be talking about that now" Marie explained as they got closer to the platform where Azusa, Spirit and Death waited for them.

"Glad you could make it back safely Marie, Stein" the Reaper greeted the two as if they had just come back from a long vacation.

"First of all, please let me apologize for leaving" Stein bowed as did Marie and Spirit for not having stopped him and for going along with them. Cali and Hiro nodded quickly, but not enough to show that they were really apologetic. "I also know this is no excuse, but I have evidence that I am innocent, and we also found the identity of the true culprit." Stein didn't take his eyes off the Reaper "Marie?"

Marie smiled and nodded, then pulled out a tape recorder. "This contains the evidence...".

"We used this to record our conversation with the culprit. There are any number of statements included that could be taken as a confession of guilt." Stein explained.

"Really? Then let's hear it" Death seemed happy to know that they were finally going to learn the identity of BJ's murderer. Marie turned it on and immediately a familiar song started to play, the deep and steady bass was unique to this one song.

"J-Justin?" Cali whispered to herself, her heart hammered in her chest, confused. Slowly the sky blue walls of the room started to crack, as she saw long white scarves covering the floors and pulling pieces of the roof apart. Sitting on top of the mirror sat Asura, laughing. " _Someone close_ fell to madness" Asura said, giggling away, again, as if it was the funniest thing. Cali stared in horror at Asura. "Holy Hell No" Cali tried to drown out the laughter in her ears by covering them with her hands though her hands had been tied behind her back by Asura's scarves.

"Cali's been bad, ignoring the madness, trying to leave, being normal, it's not like you." Asura frowned suddenly "So when your little friend asked what he should do to understand you and Hiro, I told him, try a little insanity for a change."

"You-"

"No name calling now, I'm starting to create the world you so desire, where everyone is insane so you don't have to pretend, so you can go home." Asura chuckled, his scarves parted showing his piercing red eyes "so THANK ME!" he screeched. Cali snapped back to reality when the music stopped.

"Oh, it stopped" Spirit commented.

"Nothing important was recorded" Azusa frowned.

"Oops, it looks like we only recorded the background noise" Stein laughed lightly as he cranked the screw in his head backwards.

"Oops my ass! Why do you think we let you escape?" Spirit yelled angrily and gaining a glare from Azusa before he cleared his throat. "It doesn't matter, I too have been looking through my own investigations and after finding BJ's hidden log, I asked Azusa to look over a few things for me based on the contents." Cali frowned so that was why Azusa couldn't be in the Himalayan mission "in the process, we found out a number of interesting facts on Justin Law." Cali's head snapped up, her heart dropping to the core of the earth. Hiro beside her clenched his fists and bit his lower lip. He finally decided to trust Justin, and now he couldn't believe what was happening before him.

"Justin had no alibi for the time of BJ's death" Azusa added.

"And it seems that he had made contact with an unidentified individual shortly after Brew, and there are a number of other suspicious activities from that point." Stein explained clearly that Justin was certainly the one who not only killed BJ but had defected from Shibusen. "We tracked Justin down too, but he slipped away."

Hiro growled inwardly. He didn't like the way they were talking about Justin like he was some sort of slippery newt.

"For his escape, he used some sort of artifact. There are high chances that he is working with someone with magical connections" he ended.

"a witch?" Spirit guessed.

"Who knows, there isn't enough evidence at this stage"

"Kid came to me, right after Maka and Ox left" Death started, gaining everyone's attention. "He said that back at the castle, he met a mage named Noah, who was going around calling himself Eibon" a restless silence fell on the ones present.

"Well Cali, Hiro, what so you think?" the Reaper suddenly asked.

Cali slowly looked at the man, from Stein, her voice calm though her anger in her eyes was not "about what?" she asked.

"Do you think Justin was a spy all along? What should we do? Would you like to lead the investigation against Justin?" he asked.

"HE!" Cali started with a yell but paused then Hiro placed a hand on her shoulder "Sure, he was annoying, and he irritated people on purpose by pretending he couldn't understand them due to his music. Sure he could never read the mood and he was a bit of an idiot. And he didn't care about the people around him he was bothering with his music. But..." Cali took in a shaky breath "he was serious about following you Lord Death. He truly loved worshiping you and praising you and trusting you and working, for you! Don't you dare say that he intentionally fell to madness..."

Hiro pressed her to his chest "I don't like Justin, but I trust him, stupid and religious he may be, I trust that he didn't willingly betray us. " it was the first time he had ever spoken to Death, without using death threats and insults.

"Soo..." Death paused not really sure where to go from there. He had hoped the two would have been more...willing...to capture Justin.

"Hiro, Ninja-to" Cali hissed.

Hiro nodded, Cali had promised never to use that form unless she had to, and he trusted her. The second Hiro transformed Cali attacked, she first stabbed Spirit in the leg before jumping at Stein, stabbing through his hand and then shocking him with her soul. Marie hesitated to attack, as she never thought Cali would do such a thing. Cali grazed her arm and shocked her with a bit of madness. That was when Asuza had grabbed onto her, but she was shocked with another surge from Cali's soul. She then stopped, looking at Death. She made the movement to attack with Hiro. Spirit seemed to have regained himself and tried to cut both of them down with his blades.

Cali back flipped and slashed Spirit's arm, and shocked him with her soul. She then faced Death once more. The others paralyzed with her soul and madness could only watch and try not to succumb to the insanity.

"Cali let's go!" Hiro yelled.

"Yeah" Cali then shocked Hiro with her soul, keeping him in weapon form. She tossed him to Death. "Keep Hiro out of what I just did."

"C-Cali!" Hiro tried to return to human form but couldn't.

"I caused Justin to fall to madness. He wanted to understand Hiro and me more. So I told him he would have to fall to our level of insanity" Cali turned around. "I'll bring him back, I'll try" Cali left the room. She passed by the storage room and took out a cloak and a small bag and stuffed it with matches, paper, a map, compass and some protein bars and water bottles.

"Cali? What's wrong?" Nygus asked when she passed by.

"Sorry Nygus" Cali apologized before knocking her out by hitting the back of her neck. Cali looked down the hall and found no-one around. Silently she exited the school out by using the windows. Snatching a kid's skate board, she used that to make her way down the stairs and down the streets of Death City. Just before leaving the city, she swelled her soul up as much as she could as a final farewell to the Reaper who had saved her from her own mother.

"The next time we meet, will probably be the battle field" Cali sighed once she left the comfort of Death City and looked out into the Nevada Desert sand.

"Do you really think you can save Law?" Asura asked, standing beside Cali.

"Shut up and take me to them." Cali hissed. Asura glared at the way she was ordering him around but turned to the desert sands and started marching. Cali followed with no more exchanges of words between them.

"Cali!" Hiro sat up, looking around himself. He was in the Dispensary, beside him was Spirit, Asuza, Marie and Stein, not unconscious but getting their wounds treated by Sid. Apparently, as they were currently talking about it so Hiro could listen in, Cali had taken off with a cloak, a bag of stuff and knocked Nygus out before leaving the City. "Cali Cali Cali" Hiro placed his head in his hands and found that they were bandaged.

"Lord Death said that she shocked you before leaving too" Sid explained the reason for his bandages "minor burns."

"They must have gotten Cali too, it's my fault" Hiro curled up into a ball, hugging his knees as he closed his eyes, desperately wishing this was all a dream. "You said you wouldn't leave me behind, alone."

"What's wrong?" Marie asked when she noticed that Hiro started rocking.

"Abandonment issues" Spirit replied "in his first five years of life, he had to deal with having to do as told or be abandoned or killed." the red head placed a hand on the white haired teen's shoulder. He wondered how they got into this mess, Hiro was having a breakdown, Cali and Justin defected, the Kishin was loose, Medusa had been revived, and some weird Mage named Noah walked around calling himself Eibon. "This is so messed up" he sighed.

"How was it?" the mage asked as Justin returned. The priest wiped a small trail of blood at the corner of his mouth and smiled.

"I ran into the strongest Meister of Shibusen and a Death Scythe. So I took a retreat. However, I'm sure a friend of mine-OURS- will be arriving in the next few days." Justin looked at Giriko when he had said _ours_.

"Depressed kid or the white haired one?" Giriko chugged down some of the liquor that was in his hands.

"Callisto Abbey, Cali" Justin continued to smile. Everyone was silent, the music of the blond's ear buds filling the air around them. "She's a good ally to have. She's-"

"Already Insane. I know" Giriko smirked but hissed angrily when Justin cleaved his bottle in two. "So, you took an honorable retreat eh? Can't mister Death Scythe handle them on his own?!"

Noah sighed, it was already Justin and Giriko's sixth or seventh fight within the past few days and he was getting tired of it. He hoped that their mutual friend would somehow solve that, somehow.


	10. Chapter 10: aLREADY iNSANE

All canon characters © Okubo Atsushi

 **Consumption**

 **Chapter 10**

 _ **aLREADY iNSANE**_

Cali looked up at the mansion, the cloak billowed around her as she knocked on the door, gently.

The door was opened by a boy, or girl, but Cali decided that this person was in fact a boy. "Who are you?" he asked, she noted that his voice held mild anger or jealousy, and much of suspicion.

"I'm sure you already know" Cali smiled before kicking the door open, the boy flying across the entrance hall. "Ok Asura, where's your friend?" she asked, since leaving Death City, the image of Asura had always been with her. She wasn't sure whether it was because she was letting loose or because the Kishin's madness had increased.

"Who's the little shit who broke the door?" Cali turned to the familiar voice and narrowed her eyes at the Chainsaw Weapon. "Depressed Insane chick" he greeted with a grin that displayed his sharp teeth.

"Asshole, I'm disappointed to see that you're still alive and well" Cali huffed.

Giriko growled "OI! It's supposed to be the other way around! You're supposed to day, Glad to see you're alive and well!" he started to yell angrily.

"Giriko" Cali frowned, emitting her madness like a fountain. "You're loud, shut up." she narrowed her eyes at him and he stopped. For some reason, he felt as if it were Arachne that was ordering him though he knew he was looking at Cali.

"S-so" he started, calmer now, "where's your weapon friend?" he asked taking a swig from the bottle in his hand he finally seemed to remember having.

"Back in Shibusen. I left on my own."

"OK then, how'd you find this place?" he asked slowly walking down the stairs. It seemed that the boy had gone deeper inside to fetch the rest of the people.

"An old friend, led me here" Cali explained. Looking at Giriko's face, which easily showed a lot of expression, she laughed humorlessly "it wasn't Justin."

Giriko stopped in mid swig and yelled almost embarrassedly "t-that's not what I was thinking!" Cali smiled a thin smile with no warmth or thought behind it. It was a puzzling expression she had on her face, and Giriko frowned when he finally realized he wouldn't be able to look past what she wanted him to see. He watched silently as Cali took off her cloak and placed it and the bag next to the stairs.

The reddish brown haired teen looked up the stairs and her smile widened. "See you're doing well. How is it, the madness?" she asked leaning against the railings as Justin padded down. Behind him was the same kid from before and behind the kid was an odd man who reeked of magic power.

"Well" Justin patted his chest. "I believe I understand you much better" he smiled. She noticed that his clothes went through a slight change. All the marks that had the Shinigami mask or the usual cross on it was changed to the eyes of the Kishin, however he still looked like a catholic priest. "Where is Hiro?" he asked.

"I left him back."

"Will he not come after you?"

"Abandonment issues, he'll probably be down for the next month or so."

"How mean~" Justin sang.

"That's how I normally am. So, you going to introduce me to your er...friend person thing here?" she asked, waving to the man in the cap.

"Don't address Lord Noah as-"

"Noah, Eibon, whatever you want to call me you can. I don't exactly have an attachment to names. However, I would like to know your name." Noah smirked though Cali could easily see the malicious glint in his eyes.

"Callisto Abbey, not at _your_ service but close enough" she brushed it off. "I would prefer Cali, rather than Callisto though other than that. Call me whatever you want."

"Insane bitch" Giriko hissed as he came near. At this Cali turned around and elbowed Giriko in the stomach while firing off her soul at him.

"I allowed Noah to call me whatever he wanted, you on the other hand" she hissed "I still don't like you." Giriko stood up and growled but stood still, the glare she gave him was, to him, the same commanding glare of Arachne.

"You're Jupiter's daughter aren't you?" Noah asked as he sat down on the steps of the stairs.

"Bingo" Cali raised a brow, silently asking how he knew.

"Everyone knows who you are in the world of Magicians." Cali frowned at the way he had said it "and though I wouldn't mind putting you in my collection" he patted the book that was tied to his side with many tabs marking the pages "I'm sure one person in this room will disagree to that." Noah looked to Justin who smiled back, though there was tension in the air.

"Well, even though I know you are strong, somewhat, and that you are already insane. What can you actually give to our...group?" Noah asked.

Cali resisted the urge to roll her eyes, she felt as if she was in some sort of job interview. " _Tell them you can see me_ " Asura suggested as she stood behind her. Cali looked at him and raised a brow, now she started to actively wonder if Asura was real or not. "Figment of imagination or not, I'm not telling them I can see and talk to you. I don't want to be called on just cause they need to send a message to you." she crossed her arms "not to mention, I don't actually know where you are. You should have been caught or at the least put into battle when Shibusen attacked Arachne."

The people around Cali stared as she talked to thin air behind her.

" _I escaped while that witch had her back turned_ "

"Coward, some Kishin you are, you make it sound as if you didn't want to partner with Arachne and Arachnophobia. I bet you attacked her." Cali hissed back.

"He hurt Arachne when she went to talk to him" Giriko spat "I knew it wasn't a good idea to let her go in alone...how did you know anyways?" he asked "only the old man and I knew that."

"Oh shut up Giriko, if you hadn't fallen asleep, you probably would have seen where the Kishin fled to" Cali rolled her eyes.

"And how did you know we had the Kishin anyways?"

"An old friend, who's a bit of a jerk and a coward" she was then pushed to the floor by a scarf "told me" she glared at Asura who didn't look the lease bit amused with the way she had described him. "Father can call you Coward but I can't?" Cali struck out her leg to kick Asura only to realize since he wasn't actually there, nothing would happen.

"Brother Troubles?" Noah asked wondering if the girl had some sort of dissociative personality disorder or was bipolar.

"Fine, no I don't have a brother, and I can see Asura...the Kishin" she huffed as she crossed her legs.

She waited for a while in silence before everyone started to laugh. "A bitch like you can't possibly see, let alone talk, with the Kishin" the boy laughed. Giriko too started laughing away at how it was impossible for a 'pipsqueak like her' to get along with the Kishin when Arachne couldn't.

"See!" Cali pointed to them and looked at Asura "they're laughing."

"So" Noah coughed after laughing his fill. "What does he look like?" he then stifled another laugh.

"Tall, extremely thin," she looked him head to toe "healthy grayish pale complexion" she added sarcastically "piercing red eyes, three of them, black and white hair, which I would recommend dying all one color, red shirt, gray slacks, and several white scarves that he can move around to his will with magic" she finished. "Not to mention a stupid smirk when he's being a jerk" she frowned when he smirked.

Noah frowned "Cali was it?"

"Yeah"

"Can you ask him to tell us his location? We plan to fill the world with insanity but we need the Kishin's power" Noah explained. The laughter ceased.

"B-but Master Noah, can you really believe that she can speak with the Kishin?" asked the boy.

"If she can tell us the location the Kishin is currently at, then it is no doubt that she can speak with him. However, when did I allow you to speak?" Noah ended with a growl at the boy who only hunched his shoulders.

"Where else would I be if not...the place I feel most secure?" Asura asked as he hung upside down from the balcony.

"So why the hell are we back in the mountains again?" Giriko asked with a sneeze.

"Because Cali was told Lord Kishin was back in his temple." Justin explained with a forced closed mouth grin.

"Stop fighting and let's keep going. Seeing how the East Asian branch members are killed" Cali pointed to the bodies half buried in the snow "we can guess that Asura came by here." she continued the trek up. The last time she had been up here was not even a full week ago with Hiro. She remembered the promise she had broken.

The three stopped at the large red doors that creaked open inwards.

"Am I in time for lunch?" Cali asked entering in alone.

"He hasn't been eating" Marie looked to Stein who placed the medical file of Hiro down on the table. In the last three days, Hiro had been moved to a dorm room while his apartment was being searched for anything that may link Cali to the Kishin. He had also refused to eat and wouldn't open the door to his room. Stein sighed, this wasn't just an abandonment issue, he was sure that Hiro felt betrayed by Cali, the person he trusted the most.

"I'll go see if I can talk with him" Stein stood up and left the Dispensary. He wasn't sure how, but he was sure that Cali didn't leave because she had already been a traitor. It had been the talk of the school. Cali, the student teacher, injured three death scythes, the best meister and her own partner before stealing things from the school, had attempted to murder Nygus and left without a trace all within an hour.

"-then starve you little shit!" Stein looked up when he saw Spirit kicking at the door that belonged to Hiro.

"Hey senpai, what are you doing?" he asked, cranking his screw backwards. He already predicted a head ache.

The red headed Death Scythe turned to the scientist with an angry glare, "that little, he's gotten worse and is calling names not to mention-" Stein walked past Spirit who started to trail off when he noticed that Stein, thought he had asked, was not listening.

"Hiro" Stein knocked on the door as he called in.

"what the hell do you want you phony quackdoctor" Hiro asked with an angry hiss.

"Well as you can hear, he's reverted back" Spirit popped out from beside Stein.

"Is the poor baby sulking because Cali left?" Stein asked.

"Fuck off, why don't you go kneel at Tarp face's feet and work on your failed experiments!" Hiro threw the lamp by the bed at the door. Spirit looked at Stein silently, he was sure Stein would pop at any second.

"We found Cali-" Stein started but the door opened and Hiro ran out, hugging Stein.

"Thank you! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that to you or Lord Death!" he started to apologize to Stein about calling him, Marie, Azusa, Death and Sid bad names.

"What about me?" Spirit asked.

"Go fall off a cliff" Hiro paused from his long string of apologies as he looked at the Death Scythe.

"Right, about Cali" Stein started as he closed Hiro's door and roughly grabbed Hiro and pulled out a length of Chain from behind him. "I lied" he smiled a small smiled as he quickly tied Hiro up. The white haired teen stared at the scientist blankly for only a couple seconds before he started fighting.

"Leave me alone Damn it!" he tried to dig his heels into the ground but was still dragged along by Stein. The thought of turning into weapon form to escape was appealing, however, if Stein was to catch him in weapons form and was to tied him up that way, then he couldn't transform back to human form until he was untied. However that didn't stop him from changing his feet into blades and digging them into the floor. "Leggo!" he grit his teeth, while students and staff alike watched as Stein merrily dragged Hiro across the school and to the cafeteria.

"EAT!" Stein dropped the tray of food before him.

"Stein! I thought you were going to talk to him!" Marie came running over, it seemed that someone had called her over due to Stein's actions.

"Did I?" he asked cranking his screw backwards. "I don't remember saying anything like that" he then shoved Hiro's face into the food.

"It's hot!" Hiro fought back "let go you crazy buffoon!" he bucked his head back and tried to bite at the scientist "I'll rip your throat ou-" he then passed out when Marie hit both him and Stein over the head.

"Can't we pass liquids into him?" Marie asked as she watched Hiro who lay unmoving on the table.

"First I think we should stop the bleeding" Stein pointed to the blood on Hiro's forehead. With that, Marie started to freak out and carried Hiro out on her own. Stein, lit a cigarette and sighed, it really showed the roles Cali played when she was here since she was gone, not to mention the affects she had left on the people she had met. Maka and the others seemed to quite determined to believe that Cali had been forced to do what she did, while Hiro was digressing. He only hoped that she would somehow still continue to keep a bit of sanity with her so she could come back.

"Giriko" Cali poked her head out the doors and held out a hand. "Give me your coat" she ordered.

The Chainsaw weapon looked at Cali as if she were crazy and refused "no way in fuck am I giving you my coat. It's freezing and we're out here waiting for you to HURRY THE FUCK UP!" he yelled.

Justin tisked "your loud voice will cause an avalanche" he yelled, due to his head phones.

"Both of you shut up or you'll be dragged to hell by mother nature" Cali frowned looking at the two and sighed. Instead she took off her own coat and handed it to the Kishin as Giriko had refused. "Hope you don't mind mine" she apologized as she zipped and buttoned it up for him. Technically the coat wasn't her's, she had been given it by Gopher on Noah's order as she didn't actually bring her own clothes with her.

"Sucks for you" Giriko laughed when Cali shivered against the cold wind.

"If you don't shut up, I'll make sure you won't _have_ another generation in your family line." Cali glared at him before taking off her gloves and handing it to Asura. "And you..." she paused as she placed the gloves on his hands, again, the gloves were not hers and so were not too small for Asura, "just follow us back, you can fly can't you?" Asura nodded.

"Good" Cali smiled a little, it was odd to finally meet the one she had always thought of as he imaginary friend. "Justin and I will go down on his snow mobile, Gigiko can come down on his own, and Asura, make sure you don't run off on your own, no matter how afraid you are or how strange things get." she readjusted her muffler and hat to keep herself somewhat warm.

"Giriko, we will meet you at the bottom" Justin smiled playfully. As Giriko pulled a confused face, Cali kicked him in the chest and stole his gloves. Upon turning the snow mobile on, the sound of the speakers, turned on to an abnormally high volume, an avalanche started. Cali sat in the front with Justin behind her as they sped down the mountain side with Asura, leaving Giriko alone to face the wonders of nature and experience swimming in a tidal wave of snow.


End file.
